Posted: Apr 26, 2016
The Pioneers (5-9) advance to the SAC semifinals on Thursday at 4 p.m. against top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne with the win over the Cobras (5-11), who led 8-3 with three minutes left in the third quarter before Tusculum mounted its comeback.
Ben Boyd, Chris Ryan and Keegan Bell each scored a pair of goals for the Pioneers, who had been outshot 39-19 by the Cobras through three quarters. Andrew Kransberger and Tyler Klarner had a goal and an assist each as Tusculum outshot Coker 15-7 in the decisive final frame.
Shane Wilson led the Cobras with three goals and an assist, with Brooks Long and Rylee Marsh scoring two goals apiece. Coker had outscored Tusculum 8-1 over a span of 30 minutes to turn an early 2-0 deficit into an 8-3 lead, but were shut out over the final 16 minutes until Wilson scored at the final horn.
Tusculum goalkeeper Kevin Haggerty set a school record with 20 saves in goal for the Pioneers, with 12 of his saves coming in the second half. He broke the record of 19 saves originally set in 2014 which he tied earlier this season against Queens.
Tusculum jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Bell and Ryan, the latter coming with 4:05 left in the first quarter. Wilson's first goal of the game brought the Cobras within 2-1 late in the period, and Marsh tied the game 3 1/2 minutes into the second quarter. A goal from Josh Smith and a man-up goal from Long extended the Coker lead to 4-2 with 8:37 remaining in the half, but Ryan scored with 3:58 remaining to bring the Pioneers within 4-3.
Marsh's second goal of the quarter came with 1:16 remaining and gave the Cobras a 5-3 lead at the half. Coker outshot Tusculum 23-11 in the first half and had 16 ground balls to 11 for the Pioneers.
Coker seemed to take control in the third quarter, as goals from Adam Zinsmeister, Wilson and Long pushed the Cobras on top 8-3 with 3:42 left in the quarter. Just 44 seconds after Long's goal, Boyd scored to cut the margin to 8-4 and spark the Pioneer comeback. Kransberger then scored 44 seconds after Boyd to bring the Pioneers within 8-5 entering the fourth quarter.
Held off the scoreboard for the first three quarters, Wade scored his first of the game with 13:07 left to cut the Coker lead to 8-6. After killing off two penalties, the Pioneers pulled within 8-7 with 6:26 left on Boyd's second goal of the game. Coker won the ensuing faceoff, but turned the ball over with 5:48 left and would not regain possession for the next four minutes.
Wade's third goal of the game came with 4:34 left and tied the score at 8-8. The Pioneers won the ensuing faceoff and nearly took the lead on a shot off the post by Kransberger with 3:13 left. However, Klarner came through with the go-ahead goal with 2:38 to go. After another faceoff win, Bell scored with 1:51 left to extend the advantage to 10-8, and Wade tallied a man-up goal 31 seconds later for an 11-8 Pioneer lead. Wade's fourth of the day with six seconds left capped the 9-0 run, as Wilson scored as time expired for the Cobras.
The Pioneers were led on defense by Jake Smith, who had eight ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Ethan Merrow added four ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Eric Varlas collected three ground balls. Nate Wade won 5-of-8 faceoffs in the game, including three in a row in the fourth quarter during the Pioneers' run.
Coker was led on defense by Patrick Timothee, who had five ground balls, while Tom Williamson had four ground balls. DeShaun Ormond and Colin Caristi had three ground balls each for the Cobras, who had just four caused turnovers against the Pioneers.
Anthony Malik finished with 11 saves in goal for the Cobras, who had beaten the Pioneers in overtime in each of their last two regular-season meetings, including an 11-10 victory in Greeneville on April 9 of this season.
With the win, the Pioneers will play Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC semifinals on Thursday at 4 p.m. on the campus of Queens University of Charlotte. The Bears, who went 8-0 in the conference to claim their second SAC championship in the past three years, rallied from a 7-5 deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Pioneers 8-7 in the teams' regular-season meeting on March 19 at Pioneer Field.
In the other semifinal, second-seeded Wingate will play third-seeded Queens after the Royals defeated Catawba 13-5 in Tuesday's other quarterfinal game. The winners will meet for the SAC Tournament Championship on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Queens.
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