Mars Hill University scored seven straight goals to break a 1-1
tie and go on to a 13-3 victory over Tusculum College in a South
Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse game Thursday night at Pioneer
Field.
Anthony Malcolm and Ryan Sage had four goals apiece for the Lions
(4-5, 3-1 SAC), who outshot the Pioneers 46-23 and hand had a 47-23
edge in ground balls in the victory. David Fernandes scored two
goals and Ben Boyd added a goal for the Pioneers (4-6, 0-5 SAC),
while Darrin Wilson had a pair of assists.
The Lions scored three goals in a span of 1 minute, 13 seconds late
in the first quarter to take a 4-1 lead, and scored all three
second-quarter goals to go on top 7-1 at the half. In the third
quarter, goals from Mars Hill's Sage and Tusculum's Boyd left the
Lions on top 8-2, and Mars Hill punctuated the win with five
straight goals in the fourth quarter before Fernandes scored in the
final minute.
Sage opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first
quarter, but a goal from Fernandes tied the game at 1-1 with 6:56
to go in the opening quarter. Mars Hill quickly expanded its lead
to 4-1 as Adam Zulak, Malcolm and Jon Avery scored in the final 2
1/2 minutes of the quarter.
In the second quarter, Jimmy McBride and Cody Garcia sandwiched
goals around a tally from Sage to give the Lions a 7-1 lead at
halftime. Following a defensively-oriented third quarter that saw
the teams combine for 12 shots, the Lions peppered 18 shots on the
Pioneer goal in the fourth quarter and scored five times, including
three from Malcolm.
Neither team was successful with the extra man, as the Lions were
0-for-4 in man-up situations and the Pioneer failed on both of
their attempts. The Lions went 14-for-20 on faceoffs and forced the
Pioneers into 18 turnovers while committing 15 of their own.
Defensively, Mitch Chapman led the Pioneers with five ground balls
and two caused turnovers, while the Lions were paced by Peter
Appenzeller's six ground balls and four each from Avery, Tanner
Leach and Malcolm. Appenzeller went 8-for-11 on draws while Avery
went 6-for-9 on faceoffs for Mars Hill.
John Perrucci played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and
finished with 12 saves, while Patrick McMahon tallied 11 saves
between the pipes for the Lions.
Tusculum returns to action on Saturday, April 5 when they play on
the road at Queens, starting at 2 p.m.
