INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian women's lacrosse team suffered a tough loss in their home opener falling 14-7 to Missouri Baptist. The Knights are now 1-2 overall following the ranked loss. 

The Knights took action quickly and scored the first goal of the game within the first three minutes of play, as Ruby Mason scored the first goal of the nights. Ella Grace Giedd continued to bring the energy for the home team with a goal with 4:44 left in the quarter increasing the Knights lead. The Spartans quickly responded with three unanswered goals from Delaney Pechnik and Kiersten Lang, giving the visitors a 3-2 lead. With 30 seconds left in the quarter, Giedd answered the Spartans push with a free position shot, making the score 3-3 to end the first quarter.

The scoring slowed down in the second quarter, as the tie continued to the midway point of the quarter. Missouri Baptist broke the drought with back-to-back goals, establishing a lead of two with their pair of quick scores. The Knights fell behind 5-3 and  attempted to cut the margin against the Spartans with three-shots on goal for the quarter but were to no avail. The Spartans would score one final time before half making it a three score game before the half.

Missouri Baptist scored quickly to start the second half, but the Knights regained their footing in their comeback efforts with Katie Murphy scoring a goal in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Ashlynn Gray followed up with a goal of her own for Marian to continue to try and get back in the game, but the two-score difference would be as close as Marian could cut the lead. Trailing 7-5, Marian allowed three unanswered goals to fall behind by five on the board, putting the game near out of reach. Mason would notch her second goal of the night to make the score 10-6 before the end of the third quarter.

Missouri Baptist outscored Marian 4-1 in the final quarter of the game, holding their lead for their final 15 minutes as they claimed the 14-7 win.

Mason lead the team in goals with three and one assist. Giedd finished the night with two goals and one assist, while Murphy led the team in shots with five, scoring one goal in the loss. 

Madeline Dumke and Alex Dean led the team defensively, with Dumke recording four caused turnovers and Dean recovering four ground balls. Ashlynn Gray led the team with four draw controls. In goal, Kathrine Hirsch took the loss allowing nine goals on the day.

The Knights are back in action on Monday, March 4th on the road against Ave Maria University for the first draw set at 6:00 p.m.

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