Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
A head coach’s first season can be difficult as they work to develop a new culture and direction for the team. First year head coach Lindsay Reho began to establish her new culture while learning of the dynamic of the young team. Last season the women’s lacrosse team finished 6-10 and this year they finished with a 5-12 record and made an appearance in the OAC playoff tournament.
The Pioneers opened the season at home against Grove City College in February. Grove City came out to an early 1-0 lead and kept up with Marietta the rest of the way defeating the Pioneers 12-10. In the second game Westminster College ran away in the fourth quarter outscoring the lady Pios 11-7.
While starting out 0-2 the Pioneers were able to find their footing in their next game. Hosting Franciscan University acted as a moral boost for the team as they held strong on offensive and defensive winning 18-3. Etta kept the momentum up in March as they scored wins over Bethany College 14-4, Wittenberg University 12-8. and Mount Aloysius College 18-5.
This winning streak led the Pioneers into spring break with a 4-2 record. During break, the team traveled to Virgnia Beach to face DeSales University and Virginia Wesleyan University. DeSales held control in the first game taking a 17-7 victory. Marietta found themselves with a 5-3 lead at halftime over the Marlins during the second game of the trip, however, the Marlins has a resurgence in the second half and took a 12-7 lead for the win.
The Pioneers headed north to Pittsburgh after spring break to face Chatham University. Unfortunately, the Pioneers would fall to 4-5 as the Cougars had far more shots on goal resulting in a 17-8 win.
Marietta’s next match would be with the undefeated John Carroll. While Marietta’s Hope Adams scored first, John Carroll came back and secured the win with a 15-3 final score. The conference matchups continued as Marietta traveled to Capital University whom they have never beaten. This fate would not change as Capital found the back of the net eleven times in the first quarter which led to a 24-7 loss for the Pios.
The Pios next game started eerily similar as Ohio Northern scored six unanswered goals in the first quarter. The Navy Blue and White mounted a comeback closing the gap to 11-9 in the third quarter. However, they would not get closer as Polar Bears and Pioneers squared four a piece in the fourth ending the game in a 15-12 loss for Marietta.
The next game against as a loss to rival Muskingum University. Muskingum stayed ahead in the first three quarters and while the Pioneers dropped an impressive seven goals in the fourth quarter, they could not manage the win, losing 14-16.
Marietta’s luck did not change against Mount Union as the Purple Raiders shut down the Pioneers in the second half allowing zero goals. The final result was a 26-7 loss for Marietta College.
On their final road game of the year, the Pioneers traveled to Berea to take on Baldwin Wallace and lost 16-7 to the Yellowjackets. The Pioneers were able to end their season on a good note as for their final home game of the year, they hosted the Otterbein Cardinals and defeated them 17-6. With this win, the Pioneers were able to make an appearance in the OAC playoff tournament as Otterbein held a 2-14 record.
Marietta held the #6 seed in the tournament and had a first round matchup with #3 seed Capital. Unfortunately, Marietta was eliminated as the fell to Capital losing 19-7.
While the final record is similar, this season focused heavily on developing the younger players on the team for future seasons. Only time will tell on how Reho’s new mentality affects the future success of the players and the team.
