GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Quinn Tallant and Tyler Ewen each scored four goals to lead 16th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte to a 12-8 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at a rain-soaked Pioneer Field.
The Royals (5-3, 5-1 SAC) scored three goals in the first five minutes, but the Pioneers (5-4, 2-4 SAC) came back after a weather delay of more than one hour to cut the deficit to 5-4 early in the third quarter. Queens then scored the final four goals of the third quarter and held off Tusculum in the fourth quarter to earn their third conference road win of the season.
Nate Raymond scored a goal and had a career-high four assists for the Pioneers, while Braden Elam added two goals and two assists. Tristan Kirkham finished with a pair of goals for the Pioneers, with a goal and an assist apiece from Lorenz Brown and Sean Dunn and one goal from Kale Lawrence.
Tusculum outshot Queens 36-30 and forced the Royals into 22 turnovers, but Queens keeper Kyle Hornik finished with 13 saves. Queens won 12 of 22 faceoffs in the game but Tusculum had a 38-34 edge in ground balls in the waterlogged conditions, which left players slipping and sliding through standing water. The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes by a pregame hailstorm which hit one hour before the scheduled start.
Queens jumped to a 3-0 lead after five minutes on goals by Ewen, Kevin Barry and Tallant, but with 8:30 left in the opening quarter the game was stopped for one hour, seven minutes due to lightning and heavy rain. Just 31 seconds after the game resumed, the Pioneers got on the scoreboard as Kirkham collected a pass from Raymond and beat Hornik to cut the Queens lead to 3-1.
The score remained 3-1 until Tallant scored three minutes into the second quarter, followed by a Zach Terry goal with 6:28 left that pushed the Royals to a 5-1 lead. Brown scored with nine seconds left in the half as the Pioneers trailed 5-2 at intermission.
Tusculum pulled within 5-4 on goals by Elam two minutes into the third quarter and from Raymond just under five minutes into the period. After five scoreless minutes, the Royals went up 6-4 on a goal from Callin Harris and then 7-4 as Tallant scored 11 seconds later. Goals from Ewen and Tallant in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter gave Queens a 9-4 lead heading into the fourth.
The Pioneers quickly cut the deficit to 9-6 as Dunn scored in the first minute of the fourth and Kirkham added a man-up goal 24 seconds later. Ewen then scored twice in two minutes as the Royals went up 11=6 with 5:14 left, but goals from Lawrence with 4:45 left and Elam with 54 seconds left trimmed the advantage to 11-8. Pilon closed out the scoring with a flag down with 28 seconds to go.
Lawrence and Andy Michalski shared the team lead with six ground balls for the Pioneers, with four apiece from Connor Coleman and Tanner Deck. Ross Geiger was credited with eight saves in goal for the Pioneers. For Queens, Bennett Smith had six ground balls and four caused turnovers and Jacob Martin collected six ground balls on the strength of a 7-for-11 performance on faceoffs.
Tusculum went 1-for-3 with the man advantage and killed off the only Queens extra-man opportunity in the final minute. Queens was 24-for-26 on clears and Tusculum went 21-for-22 on clear attempts.
Tusculum will head to Coker for a 2 p.m. match with the Cobras on Friday, April 2. The Cobras (2-4, 0-3 SAC) host Mars Hill on Sunday and Lenoir-Rhyne on Tuesday prior to Friday's matchup with the Pioneers.
