INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time in program history, the Marian women's lacrosse team will play for a conference championship, as the Knights stamped a title game appearance with their 17-0 shutout against Bethel on Thursday night. Marian is 12-3 overall this season with the win.
Marian left no doubt that the game was theirs on Thursday night, scoring in the first minute of the game.
Ruby Mason scored off a feed from
Rylie Boezeman 52 seconds into play, while 98 seconds later, Boezeman assisted on a goal for
Delaney Koles, putting Marian on top 2-0 in the first 2:30 minutes of play.
Ella Grace Giedd and Boezeman scored in the next two minutes as the game continued to snowball in favor of Marian, as the lead doubled to four before five minutes of play had expired. Giedd, Koles, and
Alex Dean would all strike before the end of the first quarter, giving the Knights a one-sided 7-0 lead after one quarter.
The Knights continued to cruise in the second quarter, playing stout defense while maintaining a steady offensive surge.
Rylie Boezeman and
Ella Grace Giedd each netted goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter, while
Ruby Mason followed with a score to start the running clock. In the waning moments of the first half, defense led to offense, as Marian forced a turnover that led to a free position chance for
Alex Dean, who buried a goal as the clock expired to give Marian an 11-0 intermission advantage.
The second half was more of the same from Marian, as the Knights scored six unanswered goals to punctuate the 17-0 shutout.
Allyson Cissell and
Skyler O'Leary each scored twice in the second half, while
Taleah Nool and
Alex Dean each notched a goal.
Marissa Bardo took over at goal in the third quarter after
Aniyah Jones' four saves in the first half, and completed the shutout, denying Bethel on each of their three shots on goal.
Marian's shutout is the first since an 18-0 shutout last year at Rochester Christian.
In the win,
Alex Dean and
Ella Grace Giedd led the Knights in points, with each player scoring a hat trick while assisting on two goals.
Ruby Mason,
Allyson Cissell,
Rylie Boezeman,
Skyler O'Leary, and
Delaney Koles each had two goals in the win, and
Taleah Nool scored three points, scoring once and assisting twice.
Olivia Dean caused five turnovers and recovered one ground ball, and
Esbeydi Montes had a team-high four ground balls in the win.
Ruby Mason won five of the team's 11 draw controls. Aniayh Jones was the winning goalkeeper in the game, moving to 9-3 on the year.
Marian will play in the WHAC Championship game on Saturday night, taking on rival Lawrence Tech. Opening draw is at 6:00 p.m. from Ascension St. Vincent Field.
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