DANVILLE, Va. – The Marietta College men's lacrosse team kicked off Spring Break with a defeat of host Averett University, 10-4, on Wednesday (Mar. 11) afternoon.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 4-2 overall and with the loss the Cougars fall to 0-7.  
 
"Today's game was a good team win," said Marietta head coach Nathan Grover.  "Offensively, we played together as a unit and defensively we did a good job applying pressure and flying around."
 
Both teams had trouble getting started as eight minutes passed before any offense began.  Marietta rattled off five shots but could not get on the board, but Averett finally broke the scoreless tie at the 7:43 mark as Gavin Dean found the back of the net.  Three minutes later, Marietta converted a Cougar turnover to a point as Sam Leininger (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) scored a goal off of an assist from Tommy Imhof (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster), tying the score.  After Averett broke the tie, Marietta got scores from Hutch Melind (Wilmington, N.C./Laney) and Jeff McKnight (Port Republic, Va./Ignite Christian Academy) in the final three minutes of the period to give them a 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.  

Marietta scored quick in the second period as Ryan Kenney (Edgemere, Md./Archbishop Curley) broke through and Melind followed with another score a couple of minute later, extending the Pioneer lead to 5-2.  Imhof then added a score at the 7:45 mark.   Three minutes later, the Cougars cut into the lead as Emmett Wood scored, but the Pioneers would go on to shut the Cougars down for the remainder of the period.   Leininger added a score and the Pioneers would move into the intermission with a 7-3 lead.
 
The Pioneers added a pair of scores in the third period while keeping the Cougars scoreless, giving Marietta a 9-3 advantage going into the final quarter.  Both teams added a score in the fourth but Marietta would go on to collect the 10-4 victory.  
 
Call Henthorne earned the decision as he faced a total of 26 shots, nine of which were on goal, and made four saves. 

Melind, Leininger, and Kenney led the scoring for the Pioneers with two goals apiece.  and assisted on one other goal.  Leininger and Alec Anderson (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) provided two assists apiece.  Bret Dickerson (Troy, Mich./Troy) won 14-of-16 faceoffs.  Caden Alkire (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) picked up eight groundballs and caused two turnovers.  Barrett Lindell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) and Conner Alsing (Manor, Pa./Penn Trafford) led with two caused turnovers apiece.
 
Marietta will return to the field Saturday (Mar. 14) when they travel to play Bridgewater College, with the game scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.
 
"It feels good to start off spring break 1-0," concluded Grover. "But we have another good test on Saturday so our focus is now onto Bridgewater!"

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.