GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Andrew Kransberger recorded three goals, while Kevin Haggerty posted eight saves, but none bigger than his stop in the final seconds as Tusculum College held on for a 7-6 South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse win over Catawba College Saturday night at Pioneer Field.

Tusculum (3-5, 2-3 SAC) records its second consecutive SAC victory and its first-ever home league win in program history.

The Pioneers never trailed in the contest as TC jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter thanks to a pair of goals from Kransberger. Kellen Asmundson and Nate Wade also found the back of the cage in the four-goal opening frame.

Kransbeger notched his third goal of the night at the 13:35 mark of the second quarter, but Catawba's Daniel Rew posted his third straight goal of the game to trim the Tusculum lead to 5-3.

Chris Ryan sailed in his 14th goal of the year to give Tusculum a 6-3 lead heading to the intermission.

In the third quarter, Catawba Liam Lynch put up the only scoring tally of the frame at the 5:48 mark to cut the Tusculum advantage to 6-4.

It remained that way until the fourth quarter when Nate Wade scored his 14th goal of the season on an acrobatic shot that beat the Catawba net-minder and a 7-4 TC lead with 9:35 remaining.

The Tusculum defense dug in and held the Indians scoreless for the next six minutes, while forcing a a pair of turnovers and blocked a pair of Catawba shots.

Jon Williams broke the scoring drought with his fifth goal of the season at the 3:48 mark.

Tusculum won the ensuing faceoff and Catawba was called for a one-minute slashing penalty with 2:30 on the clock.

Tusculum got a shot off but was saved by Catawba goalie Ryan Applegate. The Indians got off a shot, which was blocked by the TC defense. Chase Scott gathered in the ground ball on the rebound and passed to Dalton Cook who blasted the shot in from 10 yards to bring the Indians to within a goal (7-6) with 1:03 remaining.

Catawba (3-6, 1-4 SAC) won the faceoff and got off three shots, two of which were block, but one was saved by Haggerty as the Pioneers held on for the one-goal victory.

Catawba out-shot the Pioneers by a 32-23 margin and owned a 29-23 advantage in ground balls, though TC held the ground ball lead 13-9 in the second half.

The Indians also won 13 of 16 faceoffs, but Tusculum went 18-of-19 in its clear attempts.

Of Tusculum's 23 ground balls, Jake Smith finished with a team-high six and caused a pair of turnovers.

Tusculum returns to action next Saturday when they host Brevard College at Pioneer Field.

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