WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team was defeated, 16-9, in their regular season finale by Otterbein University, on Wednesday (April 23) evening.  With the win the Cardinals improve to  8-7 overall and 6-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and with the loss the Pioneers are now 8-8 and 3-6 in OAC action. 

Both team battled back in forth for much of the first period but Otterbein scored first as Andrew Lewis got a goal at the 7:21 mark.  The Cardinals followed with three more score to close out the period with a 4-0 lead going into the second period.
 
Marietta finally got on the board as Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) scored four minutes into the second quarter, but Otterbein answered with a trio of scores to extend the lead to six.  Alec Anderson (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) tried to slow the momentum as scored at the 4:42 mark, but the Cardinals closed out the period with another trio of scores and led 11-2 going into intermission.
 
Otterbein struck first in the third period with a score, but the Pioneers finally went on the offensive.  Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) scored a pair of goals and Neal added another to cut in to the Otterbein advantage.  Dom Dean broke the Pioneer rally with a pair of scores and the Cardinals led 14-5 going into the final period.
 
Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) and Thomas Zerman (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) added scores in the fourth quarter but the difference was too large to overcome and Otterbein completed the 16-9 conference victory.

Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) worked all 60 minutes in the nets for the Pioneers, he faced 55 shots, 33 of which were on goal, and made 17 saves.
 
Neal completed his final game in a Pioneer uniform leading the team with three scores.  Franklin and Leininger each scored two goals and collected an assist for the Pioneers.  Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) went 10-for-19 in faceoffs and led the team with four groundballs.
 
With the loss, the Pioneers were eliminated from playoff contention, but Marietta head coach Ben Suchomma still had great things to say about this year's squad.
 
"Proud of this group and the progress we have made this season," said Suchomma. "I want to thank all the seniors and fifth years for everything they have done for this program. We wouldn't be where we are without them."

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 Twitter and Instagram.