MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's lacrosse team scored early and often and defeated Mount Aloysius College by the score of 18-5 Saturday (Mar. 8) afternoon. The Pioneers improve to 4-2 on the season and the Mounties fall to 0-3 overall.

"Great team win today," Marietta head coach Lindsay Reho said.  "It was awesome to see everyone contribute to this win and see great plays today on both sides of the field. I want to give a special shout out to Sophi Merickel (Phoenix, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) today for being a beast all over the field and to our draw team for getting after it! We are looking forward to two tough games this spring break and hope to see the same results coming our way."

Marietta rattled off seven scores in the first 10 minutes to take early control of the contest.  Hope Adams (Delaware, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) and Mallory Wiles (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) each scored a pair of goals and Merickel scored once and assisted on two other during the opening blast.  Adams scored twice more and Wiles provided an additional goal in the closing minutes and Marietta led 10-1 going into the second period.
 
The scoring slowed down in the second quarter but Marietta stayed in control.  Molly Dickens (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) provided an early score that put the matchup in a running clock situation.  Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland) added another quick score and Dickens scored again at the 3:09 mark to give Marietta a 13-2 advantage going into halftime.

The Mounties tried to slow the momentum in the second half, getting goals from Cassidy Cook and Hanna Giessler to get the deficit back to single digits. The Pioneers closed out the third period with scores from Fiona Betzhold, Merickel, and Dickens to put the Marietta lead to 16-4 going into the final period.  The Pioneers would tack on two more scores in the final period, goals from Adams and Wiles, and cruised to a 18-5 victory.

Abby May (Randolph, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) played the first half in the net and had five saves, while giving up just two goals.  Tessa Labrasciano (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior) worked the second half and faced five shots and made one save.
 
Adams led with five goals in the match and added three draw controls.  Wiles and Dickens finished with four goals apiece.  Merickel scores twice, assisted on three other scores, and caused a turnover.  Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) finished with a game-high seven draw controls.

Marietta will travel this next week to Virginia Beach, Virginia to play a pair of Spring Break games.  On Wednesday (Mar. 12), the Pioneers will battle DeSales University in a neutral site match scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. On the next day (Mar. 13), they will battle host Virginia Wesleyan University with the game scheduled for 3 p.m.

Fans can follow all 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.