GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team used a pivotal second period to take the lead and never looked back as they closed out a 16-7 win over Greensboro College on Thursday (Mar. 6) evening.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 4-1 overall and with the loss the Pride falls to 2-4 overall.  

"4-1 is a great start to the season but there a lot of lacrosse still to be played," said Marietta head coach Ben Suchomma.  "I'm please on how the guys played, but now we have to see how we will do with a quick turnaround.  Big game against a tough opponent on Saturday."

Greensboro started quickly with a pair of scores in the first two minutes to roar out to a 2-0 lead.  Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) put Marietta on the board with an unassisted goal at the 12:09 mark, but Greensboro answered on the very next possession, winning the face off and marching down the field for the score.  Alec Anderson (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) scored one minute later for the Pioneers, cutting the lead to one.  Leininger put his mark on the remainder of the period as he scored on three more occasions, two off of assists from Aiden Evans (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South), and Marietta took a 5-4 lead into the second period.  
 
The Pioneers were the aggressors in a pivotal second period, scoring on five more possessions while keeping the Pride scoreless for the entire period.  Marietta got an early score from Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) to extend the lead to two.  Seven more minutes would go by until another goal took place.  Leininger and Neal added scores and, inside two minutes, Evans scored on consecutive possessions to give the Pioneers a commanding 10-4 lead going into the intermission. 
 
Greensboro tried to get back into the contest as they scored a goal a little over a minute into the third period, but the Pioneers would shut them down.  Neal scored a pair of goals and Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) added his first score of the evening and Marietta led 13-5 going into the final period. 
 
Neal helped put the game away as he provided a trio of scores in the fourth period and Greensboro could not make up the difference.  Marietta would cruise to the 16-7 victory. 
 
James Cipollone (Forest Hill, Md./Calvert Hall) played all 60 minutes and faced 28 shots, 14 of which were on goal, and made seven saves. 
 
Neal's monster second half helped him to a team-high seven goals on the evening.  Leininger added five scores and assisted on another. Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) led the team with four groundballs and Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) played great defense, causing three caused turnovers. 
 
The Pioneer will next travel to Danville, Virginia to battle Averett University  on Saturday (Mar 8) for a scheduled 1 p.m. matchup

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.