UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team put together a strong second half but fell short to John Carroll University, 13-11 on Saturday (March 22) afternoon.  With the win the Blue Streaks improve to 3-5 on the season, 1-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.  With the loss the Pioneers are now 5-3 overall, 0-1 in the OAC.  
 
"Good game against a good opponent," said Marietta head coach Ben Suchomma. "We are making strides in the right direction, especially the 2nd half. We won the 2nd half 6-2. The turnover department is where we have struggled the most. We clean that up and a couple other things, I think we'll be heading in the right direction. This group has continued to respond throughout this season. I'm excited to see them respond next Wednesday at home versus Capital."

The Blue Streaks put up two quick goals in the opening minutes to take an early lead, but Marietta answered as Alec Anderson (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) scored at the 10:21 mark and Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) followed a minute later to tie up the contest.  JCU jumped back into the lead as they closed out the period with four tallies and took a 6-2 lead going into the second period.
 
Although the Pioneers got a quick goal from Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) to open the period, he Blue Streaks extended the lead further in the second period, getting goals from Seam Keane and Larry Voss to push the advantage to five goals.  Neal answered with a man-advantage goal and Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) followed with a goal at the 4:02 mark to cut into the lead a bit.  JCU scored twice more, though, and took an 11-5 lead going into halftime.
 
John Carroll got the first score of the second half, but Marietta finally showed offensive spark as they fired in four third period scores.  Aiden Evans (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) scored twice, Neal added a score, and Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) scored off of an assist from Tommy Inhof and the Pioneers on trailed by three, 12-9, going into the final period.
 
The Pioneers cut into the lead further as Neal scored another man-advantage score three minutes in.  After five minutes of scoreless play, Franklin cut the lead to one with an unassisted score.  The Blue Streaks tightened up their defense and held to the Pioneers to only one more shot attempt for the remainder of the period and even tacked on an insurance goal from William Dunn to close out the 13-11 victory
 
James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) played all 60 minutes in the net for the Pioneers and faced 30 shots on goal, making 17 saves. 

Along with his four scores, Neal picked up four groundballs and was 7-14 on the faceoff for the afternoon.  Franklin ended with two goals.  Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) assisted on two scores.  Defensively, Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) led the team with three caused turnovers.

The Pioneers will return to the field Wednesday (March 26) when they return home to take on Capital University, with the game scheduled to begin at 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.