GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Liam Macdonald became Tusculum University's all-time leading scorer after finishing with two goals and five assists, and Kale Lawrence scored five goals as the Pioneers routed Quincy University 24-1 in non-conference men's lacrosse action Tuesday afternoon at a rainy Pioneer Field.
Macdonald, already the program leader in career assists, broke Nate Wade's record of 142 points with an assist on Lawrence's second goal of the afternoon with 11:01 left in the second quarter. Macdonald has 71 goals and 75 assists for 146 points for the Pioneers, ranking sixth on the career goal list.
The Pioneers (4-3) scored 46 seconds into the first quarter and built a 9-0 lead after one quarter, 17-0 at halftime and 19-0 after three quarters. Tusculum led 23-0 when Quincy (0-4) tallied its only goal as Parker Toney picked up a blocked shot and scored with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter. The Hawks, a first-year program playing their second of four matches in a span of seven days, were shut out 14-0 by Lynn last Thursday.
Braden Elam had four goals and two assists for the Pioneers, Luke Doehring scored three goals and AJ Hems and Riley Burns each had a pair of goals for Tusculum. A total of 12 different players scored for the Pioneers in the victory, including the first career goals for Tanner Deck, Tyler Nunemacher and Giovanni Berardis.
Tusculum finished with a 62-18 advantage in shots, putting 43 shots on goal. Tusculum also had a 48-17 edge in ground balls and forced the Hawks into 25 turnovers. The Pioneers were 3-for-7 with the man advantage and also scored a man-down goal, and went 16-for-26 on faceoffs in the victory.
Hems and Elam scored in the first 90 seconds for the Pioneers, with Macdonald stretching the lead to 3-0 with 9:18 left in the first quarter. Doehring and Elam scored eight seconds apart to give Tusculum a 5-0 lead, and Doehring and Lawrence would score 10 seconds apart for a 9-0 Pioneer lead with 1:25 left in the first quarter.
Two goals from Lawrence stretched the Pioneer lead to 11-0 with 9:27 remaining in the first half, and Hems and Lawrence pushed the lead to 13-0 with 5:06 to play. Elam scored twice just seven seconds apart and Lawrence followed 49 seconds later for a 16-0 Tusculum lead, and Doehring closed out the first half with his third of the afternoon for a 17-0 lead at intermission.
In the third quarter, Riley Burns and Josh Pickford scored nearly eight minutes apart as Tusculum went up 19-0 into the final quarter. Burns and Berardis extended the Pioneer lead to 21-0 with 11:04 to play, with goals from Tristan Kirkham and Nate Raymond giving the Pioneers a 23-0 advantage with 8:42 to go. After Toney got the Hawks on the board with 7:08 left, Tusculum closed the scoring on a goal from Nunenmacher with 1:07 to play.
Andy Michalski, who went 13-for-18 on faceoffs, had a team-high eight ground balls and also assisted on a goal by Elam in the second quarter. Burns added five ground balls and Kirkham had four for the Pioneers, with nine different players ending the day with one caused turnover.
For Quincy, Sam Huff played the first quarter in goal and the final three quarters in the field, finishing with a team-high five ground balls. Jared Fournier had four ground balls and Neal Dardis had three for the Hawks, who were 13-for-21 on clears and went 0-for-2 with the man advantage, both in the second quarter.
Ross Geiger played the first half in goal for the Pioneers and made one save on three shots. Ryan Pickering saw 15 shots from Quincy in the second half and made seven saves of the eight that were on target. For Quincy, Huff had seven saves in the first quarter and Ian Speth made 12 saves over the final three periods.
Tusculum will return to South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday, March 14 at Queens, starting at 4 p.m. The Royals (5-2, 1-0 SAC) are ranked 13th in the latest U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division II poll.
