MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's lacrosse team accomplished a program first as they opened Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday (March 25) evening.  The Pioneers were able to defeat Capital University for the first time in program history, knocking off the Comets, 14-8, at Marietta Field. With the win the Pioneers improve to 5-4 overall and 1-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, and with the loss the Comets are now 4-5 overall and 0-1 in OAC action.  

"What a great way to open our conference slate," said Marietta Head Coach Lindsay Reho.  "We knew it would take 60 minutes of grit and high energy to get this win tonight and the group delivered. Huge shout out to Alayna Francis (Irwin, Pa./Norwin); I don't know if I've seen such a dominant defensive performance quite like the one she gave today in a long time. No better way to go into our weekend game than with a history making win." 
 
Capital put the first goal on the scoreboard as Holly Stoner took advantage of Marietta having a player in the penalty box, depositing a Comet score.  Fiona Betzhold answered a minute later for the Pioneers with a score off of an assist from Renee Mulvaney (Midland, Mich./Midland).  Betzold then scored three more goals, giving the Pioneers a 5-1 lead heading into the second period.

The Comets opened the second period with a score in the first three minutes, but Marietta answered with four scores over the next four possessions, getting scores from Mulvaney, Lydia McCarter (Fort Mill, S.C./Catawba Ridge), Mallory Wiles (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne), and a free position goal from Dickens to extend the lead to seven.  Capital added a score, but Marietta held a 9-3 lead into the intermission.
 
The Comets again got the first score of the period as Mia Cruz got a player-up score to cut the lead to five.  Mulvaney quickly answered with a goal off of an assist from Wiles.  Wiles then added a score at the 9:35 mark to push the lead to seven goals.  The Comets closed out the period with a pair of score and only trailed 11-6 heading into the final period.
 
Capital continued to chip away at the lead, opening the fourth with a pair of scores, but Marietta slowed the rally as Maggie Downard (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) scored a free position goal. The Pioneers successfully shut down Capital for the remainder of the period and tacked on a pair of scores from Molly Dickens (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) to go on to claim the 14-8 victory.  

Tessa Labrasciano (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior) got the start in goal and faced 18 shots on goal, making 10 saves.
 
Betzhold and Dickens led the team with four goals apiece.  Wiles added two goals and led the team with four assists.  Alyana Francis played masterfully, leading the team with seven groundballs, six draw controls, and four caused turnovers.  
 
The Pioneers will host a non-conference matchup with LaRoche University this Saturday (March 31) 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.