GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Dallas Wade tied the program single-game record with seven points and Chris Ryan added six as Tusculum defeated Shorter 24-7 in non-conference men's lacrosse action Friday night at a soggy Pioneer Field.
Wade had four goals and three assists to match the school record of seven points in a game that was set five previous times, while Ryan had four goals and two assists. Keegan Bell added two goals and four assists for the Pioneers (1-1), who outshot the Hawks (0-3) by a 57-19 margin and scored five man-up goals in six opportunities.
William Millwood led the Hawks with three goals and an assist, but Shorter was outscored 6-1 in the second quarter and 16-4 in the second half after playing the Pioneers to a 2-2 deadlock after the first period.
Bell's four assists tied a career high and were one off the school record set twice previously. Tusculum had 19 assists on its 24 goals, also one off of the record of 20 set in last season's 27-4 win over Emmanuel.
Shorter scored the opening goal of the match from Jordan Coates with just under 2 1/2 minutes gone in the first quarter, but Liam Macdonald answered midway through the quarter to tie the score at 1-1. After Tate Tatum scored with the extra man with 4:35 left in the quarter, Ryan netted his second of the period to tie the score at 2-2.
The Pioneers opened the second quarter with four goals in a span of four minutes, 51 seconds, including a man-up goal from Wade just 17 seconds into the period. Quentin Jennings gave Tusculum a 4-2 lead before Ryan scored twice in 2:13 to extend the Pioneer lead to 6-2. A man-up goal from Bell pushed Tusculum on top 7-2 with 7:36 to go in the half, and Tusculum led 8-3 at intermission after Andrew Kransberger scored with 19 seconds to go.
Tusculum tacked on eight goals in the third quarter, including three from Wade, to build a 16-5 lead entering the fourth quarter. The final period saw Tusculum fire home eight more goals, including man-up tallies from Tyler Klarner and Nate Wade along with two apiece from Jason Willis and Braden Elam.
A total of 12 different players scored goals for the Pioneers, with Macdonald scoring twice and Jose Cuevas and Cam Rogers once each for Tusculum in the match. Jennings and Elam each finished with two goals and an assist while Willis and Klarner had two goals apiece. Riley Burns contributed a pair of assists in the fourth quarter, along with one from Luke Doehring.
Tusculum had a 54-25 advantage in ground balls, led by six from Kransberger and five apiece from Macdonald, Eric Varlas and Ethan Bohannon. Bohannon excelled on faceoffs for the Pioneers, winning 12-of-15 as Tusculum had a 23-10 edge at the dot. The Pioneers' 54 ground balls were one shy of the team single-game record of 55 set against Ohio Valley in 2015 and equaled against Emmanuel last season.
Tatum finished with two goals for the Hawks, with a goal and two assists from Jacob Woodard and two assists by Chase Rogers. Tatum also had a team-high four ground balls, while Chris Woodard was the only player on either team with two caused turnovers.
Patrick Thomas played the first three quarters in goal for the Pioneers and made two saves, while Will Bender (one save) and Ryan Pickering (three saves) split the fourth quarter. For Shorter, Garry Robinson finished with eight saves in the first half and Richard Ticer tallied 11 stops in the second half.
Shorter committed 23 turnovers in the match to 16 by Tusculum, while the Pioneers were 23-for-25 on clears and the Hawks were 14-for-21 as a team.
Tusculum will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 24 when the Pioneers host North Greenville at Pioneer Field, starting at 3 p.m.
