VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team took to the road during spring break and dropped a neutral site matchup with DeSales University, 17-7, on Wednesday (March 12) afternoon.  With the loss the Pioneers fall to 4-3 overall and with the win the Bulldogs improve to 6-0.

"Not the outcome we hoped for but great fight against such a talented team," said Marietta head coach Lindsay Reho. "We look for the quick bounce back tomorrow and hopefully close out the trip on a win!"
 
DeSales lit up the board first getting a score two minutes into the matchup.  Jess Bray, the leading scorer for DeSales, sent a shot passed Pioneer goalkeeper Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) to give the Bulldogs the quick lead.  Marietta answered a couple of minutes later as Sophi Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) score to tie up the game.  DeSales then scored a trio of goals, two from Christina DiGuglielmo, to take a three-goal lead into the final seconds.  Merickel slowed the momentum with a score just before the horn sounded, but Marietta trailed 4-2 going into the second period.
 
The Bulldogs got another early score from Bray to begin period two, but the Pioneers tried to get back into the game.  Merickel took a great pass from Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) and sent another shot into the goal, and then Adams scored just two minutes later to cut the Bulldog lead to one.  The Bulldogs close out the half with another pair of goals and took an 7-4 lead into intermission.
 
The third quarter saw Marietta fall behind further as DeSales finally broke through with a pair of scores.  Merickel added another score at the 8:08 mark, but the Bulldogs added another pair of goals to push the lead to 11-5 going into fourth quarter.
 
Adams and Merickel added fourth quarter goals but the Bulldogs kept up the offensive explosion adding four goals in the final six minutes.  The Pioneers would fall to the Bulldogs, 17-7.
 
May played every minute in the net, facing 36 shots, 31 of which were on goal.  She had 14 saves in the match.
 
Merickel led the way with five goals and five draw controls.  She also played well defensively as she caused two turnovers.  Adams finished with two goals.
 
The Pioneers will play again Thursday (Mar. 13) as they will play host Virginia Wesleyan University, with a start time of 3 p.m.
 
Fans can follow all of the Pioneer teams all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.