MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's lacrosse team dropped their season opener to Chatham University, 9-7, Saturday (Feb. 21) afternoon at Marietta Field. The Pioneers fall to 0-1 on the season, while the Cougars improve to 2-0 overall.

"While not the result we hoped I am very proud of the effort of the team today," said Marietta head coach Lindsay Reho. "It was a battle for 60 minutes and we hustled until that last whistle. If we clean up some of our turnovers that game goes our way. We learn from today and look to bounce back for another test on Tuesday."

The Cougars and Pioneers battled throughout the first three minutes with no offense but Chatham finally broke through as they scooped up a Pioneer turnover and promptly got a score from Bella Walski-Rodriguez. Chatham followed quickly with a score on the next possession to lead by two.  Marietta finally broke through as Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland), after getting fouled, scored a free position goal.  The Pioneers tied it up at the 7:03 mark as Mallory Wiles (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) scored her first goal of the season, with an assist to Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson).  Chatham quickly answered on the next position with another score from Walski-Rodriguez to take back the lead.  Offense was limited for the remainder of the period as Marietta was held to no shot attempts.  The Pioneers trailed 3-2 going into the second period.

The Pioneers cut into the lead just as the second period begun as Wiles took a great pass from Fiona Betzhold and deposited it into the net, tying the game at three apiece.  The Cougars got a break as Sara Kaesshaefer was fouled and, on the ensuing possession, scored a free position goal to take back the lead.  The action remained on the Chatham side for the next several minutes as Marietta was kept from making a shot.  Natalie Ondo added to the Cougars total with a score at the 7:58 mark and Sarah Holt added a score a minute later to extend the lead to three.  Molly Dickens (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) got Marietta back on the board with a score, but Chatham tacked on one more before the half and led 7-4 going into intermission.

In the third period, neither team got on the board, but Tessa Labrasciano (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior) kept the Pioneers in the game.  She saved all five of the shots on goal, keeping Chatham with just the three goal lead.  Three minutes into the fourth period, Chatham goat a score to extend the lead to four.  Later in the period, Marietta got scores from Mulvaney and Wiles and trailed by only two with eight minutes remaining.  Kaesshaefer added a score for Chatham, but Betzhold answered to keep the Cougar lead at two.  Unfortunately for Marietta, they were held to no shot attempts for the final five minutes and could not overcome the gap.  Vhatham would hold on for the 9-7 victory.

Labrasciano played all 60 minutes in the net for the Pioneers.  She faced 31 shots, 21 which were on goal, and made 12 saves.
 
Wiles led the Pioneers with three goals.  Mulvaney added another pair of goals.  Francis led with four caused turnovers and McCarter collected five draw controls in her Pioneer debut. 
 
Marietta will stay at home for their next contest as they will host Wittenberg University this Tuesday (Feb. 24) with a scheduled 7 p.m. start.

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.