MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team opened the 2026 season with a bunch of new faces on the field, including at head coach as Nathan Grover made his debut.  The Pioneer offense exploded and went on the shutout Thiel College, 23-0, on Sunday (Feb. 15) afternoon. This was the first shutout posted by Marietta since April 2021 when the Pioneers defeated the Student Princes, 21-0.  With the win, Marietta opens the season at 1-0 overall and the loss puts the Tomcats at 0-2 overall.  
 
"I am extremely proud of the effort from the team today," said Marietta head coach Nathan Grover. "We did an amazing job of executing at a high level, getting everyone involved and respecting our opponents and the amazing game we play."
 
Marietta lit up the nets in the first quarter as they scored on eight different occasions.  It took a little over 90 seconds for Hutch Melind (Wilmington, N.C./Laney) to score the first goal of his Pioneer career, assisted by Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake). Jeff McKinght also got his first career goal at the 6-minute mark and Nathan Hamilton (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City) followed with a score a minute later.  McKnight would goal on to score twice more and Tommy Imhof (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) got his first goal of the season.  Nick Renda (Export, Pa./Franklin) and Cannon Fox (New Concord, Ohio/John Glenn), also making their Pioneer debuts, would add a goal apiece and Marietta led 8-0 after one quarter of play.
 
The Pioneers put up another six goals in the second quarter.  Leininger got his first goal of the season to open the scoring and freshman Donovan Masters (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Bradley) got his first career Pioneer goal with 6:24 left in the half.  Alec Anderson (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) added a score with Melind and Hamilton adding to their score totals a bit later. Ryan Kenney (Edgemere, Md./Archbishop Curley) score his first career goal with less than two minutes remaining and Marietta would go into intermission with a 14-0 lead. 

In the second half, both coaches agreed to employ a running clock, but it did not slow the Pioneer attack much.  Danner Dorothy (West Stockholm, N.Y./Potsdam Central) scored the first of two goals in the quarter on the opening possession for the Pioneers.  Dominic Cimarolli (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon McMillan) added another debut goal off of a Hamilton assist.  Before the quarter finished, Marietta would tack on three more scores, including a pair of goals from Masters and another from Melind to lead 20-0 after three period.
 
Marietta let the running clock click down in the fourth quarter, but not before McKight, Dorothy, and Masters all added to the point totals.  The Pioneers would go on to claim the shutout victory, 23-0. 

Cal Henthorne (Wooster, Ohio/St. Edward) worked the first half in goal for the Pioneers and saved his only shot opportunity.  Jack Kelly (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) took over in the second half and made three saves in the game.
 
The Pioneers were led by McKnight and Masters with four goals apiece.  Melind and Dorothy finished with three goals apiece.  Anderson assisted on five goals in total.   Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) led with three caused turnovers and Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) led with five groundballs picked up.  Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) won 10-of-15 in face offs to lead the team and Renda also went a perfect 4-of-4 in his Pioneer debut.
 
"Seeing the growth of this program from when I was a player to now as the coach is inspiring and we are hungry to continue to build on the momentum from today," said Grover

Marietta will be back in action this Tuesday (Feb. 17) as they will travel to battle Westminster College 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.