GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University scored the first 14 goals of the match and went on to earn an 18-2 victory over Shorter University in non-conference men's lacrosse action Tuesday night at Pioneer Field.
Nate Raymond and Tristan Kirkham scored four goals apiece and Wesley Phillips, Lorenz Brown, Sean Dunn, Kale Lawrence and Jordan Daniel scored twice each for the Pioneers (2-0), who outshot the Hawks (1-1) by a 55-26 margin.
Phillips also added five assists to finish one shy of the program single-game record of six assists set by Liam Macdonald against Shorter on Feb. 23, 2019. His seven-point performance was the 12th in program history and ranks fifth all-time at Tusculum.
Freshman keeper Riley Semmes played the first three quarters and did not allow a goal, while tallying eight saves. He earned the start after four-year starter Ross Geiger missed the first game of his career in order to represent Tusculum in the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship in Atlanta.
Tusculum had a 46-13 edge in ground balls over Shorter and went 3-for-10 with the man advantage. The Pioneers went 16-for-18 on clear attempts and won 17-of-22 faceoffs, all from Andy Michalski who led all players with 13 ground balls in the match.
The Pioneers went up 4-0 in the first quarter by scoring all four of their goals in a span of 4 minutes, 16 seconds. Phillips opened the scoring with 12:04 left in the quarter, followed 40 seconds later by Kirkham for a 2-0 lead. Phillips would put the Pioneers up 3-0 with 9:15 to play, and Brown stretched the Tusculum lead to 4-0 with 7:48 remaining.
In the second quarter, Phillips assisted on three of the Pioneers' four goals, including tallies from Lawrence and Raymond for a 6-0 lead with 9:46 left in the half. Daniel scored with the man advantage with 3:37 left for a 7-0 Tusculum lead, and Dunn added a goal with two seconds left for an 8-0 edge at intermission.
The Pioneers kept up the pace in the third quarter, scoring six times. Raymond scored three times during the period, including a man-up goal with 6:49 left for an 11-0 lead, while Kirkham had back-to-back goals 1:04 apart and Brown added his second of the evening.
Tusculum led 14-0 entering the fourth before Shorter spoiled the shutout bid with a man-up goal from Kaleb Roehn with 12:04 left. Goals from Lawrence, Daniel, Dunn and Kirkham stretch the Tusculum margin to 18-1 with 3:34 left before Jaden Sealey closed the scoring with 33 seconds to play for the Hawks.
Raymond had four ground balls with three apiece from Brown, Dunn, Kirkham, Lawrence, Nicholas Drennan and Tyler Nunenmacher. Gunnar Uutinen led the Hawks with four ground balls.
Nick Adams came on in relief of Semmes to start the fourth quarter and made two saves for the Pioneers. Chase Finley played the entire match for the Hawks and was credited with 25 saves on 43 shots on goal.
Shorter was flagged 10 times for a total of 8 minutes, 30 seconds while Tusculum was whistled for seven infractions for 7 minutes, 30 seconds. The Hawks had 23 turnovers in the match while the Pioneers were charged with 18 miscues.
Tusculum will be back home to face Chowan in another non-conference match on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. Chowan will come into play with an 0-1 record after losing its season opener 17-4 to Lander last Saturday.
