WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team returned to their winning ways with a dominant 21-2 road victory over Wilmington College on Saturday (April 12) afternoon.   With the win the Pioneers improve to 8-6 overall and 3-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.   With the loss the Quakers fall to 4-10 overall and 0-6 in the OAC.   

"Great team win," said Marietta head coach. "It's awesome to see the score sheet with a bunch of different names. We are excited to get back to work for this Friday."

Marietta jumped out to big lead after a six-goal first quarter, outshooting the Quakers 15 to 2.  Marietta got their first goal fresh off of a Wilmington penalty.  Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) used the man advantage to get the first score of the game off of an assist from Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon).  The two Pioneers reversed roles on the next score just one minute later.   Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) added a goal at the 5:37 mark and Aiden Evans (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) closed out the period with a trio of scores and the Pioneers took a 6-0 lead into the second quarter.
 
Marietta controlled the second period as they added seven more goals, keeping the Quakers off of the board.  Josh Walter found the nets twice with two unassisted scores.  Neal and Franklin added goals and the Pioneers got a pair of scores from Tommy Imhof (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) to pad the lead.  Sam Leininger's (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) goal with less than three minutes remaining was the final score of the second period and Marietta went into intermission with 13-0 lead.

The Pioneers kept the Quakers on the defensive through much of the third period as they added four more scores, with Logan Podgorski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) getting on the score sheet with an early score.  Marietta took a 17-0 lead into the final stanza.  The Pioneers added four more scores in the fourth quarter, but lost the shutout as Wilmington got on the board with a pair of scores, but still cruised to a 21-2 victory.

Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) got the start and played into the third quarter, shutting out the Quakers the whole way.  He faced seven shots and saved each one.  Cal Henthorne (Wooster, Ohio/St. Edward) played the remaining minutes and faced four shots on goal, making two saves.

Evans and Walters lead the way with four goals apiece, with Walter assisting on two others.  Neal added three goals and Franklin led the Pioneers with three assists to go with his two scores.  Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) and Jason Mach (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) teamed up to make a dominant face-off unit, combined for 17-for-25 on the afternoon.  Imhof led the team with five groundballs and Alan Schwab (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) the defense with two caused turnovers.

The Pioneers will return home to play their home regular season finale this Friday (April 18) when they host Baldwin Wallace, with the game scheduled to begin at 5 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.