ALLIANCE, Ohio – After taking a quick lead, the Marietta College men's lacrosse team had a disastrous second period, and could not make up the difference as they dropped a crucial conference matchup to the University of Mount Union, 13-10.   With the loss the Pioneers fall to 7-6 overall and 2-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and with the win Mount Union improves to 9-4 overall and 3-3 in OAC action.  
 
The Raiders hit the scoreboard first as Braylon Li broke away and scored an unassisted goal on the first possession of the game.  The Pioneers controlled the remainder of the period as they rattled off four scores to take the lead.  Nate Neal (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake), Nathan Hamilton (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City), and Aiden Evans (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) all got into the act and Marietta led 4-1 going into the second quarter.  
 
The second period started slowly as both squads traded a goal in early action but Mount Union stormed back into the lead as they scored five straight, three from Talen Osmun, and led by two with four minutes left in the half.  Evans finally got the Pioneers back on the board with a score, but the Raiders closed out the half with two more scores and led going into intermission, 9-6.
 
Marietta struck quickly in the third as Josh Walters (Cleves, Ohio/Taylor) got a goal, but Mount Union kept up the pressure with two more scores to lead by four.  Leininger got a late score but Mount Union found the nets one more time before the close of the period and led the Pioneers 12-8 going into the fourth.  Despite getting scores from Chase Franklin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) and Leininger in the fourth, the Pioneers could not overcome the margin and the Raiders went on to record the 13-10 victory.
 
Ben Millard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) got the start for the Pioneers in the net and played all 60 minutes.  He faced 26 shots on goal and had 13 saves

Leininger led the team with three goals and Evans scored two goals.  Franklin scored a goal and assisted on two others.  Alan Schwab (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) and Justin Collings (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) led the Pioneer defensive effort with two caused turnovers apiece.

Marietta will return to the field Saturday (April 12) when they travel to take on Wilmington College, with the game scheduled to begin at 1 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.