VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team closed their Spring Break competition with a loss to Virginia Wesleyan, 12-7, on Thursday (March 13) afternoon.  With the loss the Pioneers fall to 4-4 overall and with the win the Marlins improve to 3-4.

Head Coach Lindsay Reho said, "Tough result today but no discounting the effort put forth in these back to back games. It takes a strong team to bounce back from tough losses like this and I anticipate we will get back up and continue forward stronger. We will learn from this and look to next Wednesday to improve and grow together."

Both teams battled throughout a quiet first quarter.  Virginia Wesleyan attempted six shots in the first period, and although one got passed Pioneer goalkeeper Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) early in the matchup, that would be the only Marlin score of the period.  May successfully saved four other shots during the period.   The Pioneer finally got an offensive spark from Sophi Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) with two minutes left in the first as she scored off of an assist from Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson).  Both teams took a 1-1 tie into the second period.
 
The second period started with a Virginia Wesleyan score two minutes in, but Marietta again got the offense going.  Merickel scored a free position goal at the 11:45 mark and Mallory Wiles (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) followed two minutes later with her first score of the game, giving the Pioneers a one-goal lead.  The Marlins got a score from Adrianna Gunther to tie it back up, but Marietta immediately responded as Adams won the next draw control, marched down the field, and found the back of the net to put the Pioneers back in the lead.  Wiles added another score with two minutes left  and the Pioneers led at the half, 5-3.
 
The third quarter saw a major shift in momentum as the Marlins shut out Marietta for the whole period while exploding for six goals of their own, all scored by six different players.  The run left Marietta down four goals going into the final quarter.  Adams and Wiles added goals in the final stanza, but the Pioneers could not make up the difference .  Virginia Wesleyan would go on to claim the 12-7 victory. 
 
Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played all 60 minutes in the net for the Pioneers.  She faced 29 shots, 21 of which were on goal, and collected nine save.  She also led with six groundballs.  

Marietta was led by Wiles, who scored three times.  Adams and Merickel scored two goals and collected five draw controls apiece on the afternoon.   Merickel led the way with two caused turnovers.
 
The Pioneers will next take the field Wednesday (March 19) as they travel to battle Chatham University, with a start time of 7 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.