#14 Limestone defeats Pioneers in season opener

#14 Limestone defeats Pioneers in season opener

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Larson Sundown had seven goals and two assists as 14th-ranked Limestone College defeated Tusculum University 22-2 in the men's lacrosse season opener on Saturday at Pioneer Field.

Jeremy Burns had five goals and Tyler Papa added three goals and two assists for the Saints (1-0), who outshot the Pioneers 43-18 and scored the first 12 goals of the match.

Keegan Bell and Luke Doehring scored for the Pioneers (0-1), who dropped to 0-4 all-time in the series against Limestone with the loss.

Sundown had two goals in the first quarter, three in the second quarter and two more in the third quarter as the Saints led 5-0 after the first period, 10-0 at halftime and 17-1 entering the final quarter. Burns scored four of his five goals in the second half as nine different players had goals for Limestone.

Clark Walter added two goals and two assists and Matt Bennett and Coltin Moseman each had three assists for the Saints, which saw 13 different players enter the scoring column in the victory.

Bell's goal came with 12:09 left in the third quarter off an assist from Will Cookman, and Doehring scored with 4:23 to go following a long pass by Joel Edgar. Tusculum turned the ball over 24 times in the match and were successful on 14-of-23 clears as a team.

On defense, Edgar had a team-high five ground balls for the Pioneers and Connor Coleman added three. For Limestone, Christopher Parrott had six ground balls while going 11-for-14 on faceoffs and Dakota Kirsch-Downs won 10-of-12 faceoffs and had five ground balls. Andrew Martin had four ground balls and three caused turnovers on the Saints' defense.

Ross Geiger played the first 51:41 in goal for the Pioneers and had seven saves, with Patrick Thomas coming in late and making one stop. Danny Forren had seven saves and allowed just two goals in 58 minutes for the Saints before giving way to Shawn Howell in the final two minutes.

Tusculum will host Lees-McRae next Saturday, Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. at Pioneer Field.