GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's lacrosse team will finish the non-conference portion of its schedule on Saturday when the Pioneers host Alabama Huntsville at Pioneer Field. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The Pioneers (5-0) bring a five-match winning streak into Saturday's match, which is the best start to a season and tied for the longest winning streak in program history. The early success of the Pioneers has not gone unnoticed, as Tusculum is receiving votes this week in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division II poll.
Tusculum stretched its win streak to five games with a pair of wins last week, defeating Lees-McRae 20-8 at Pioneer Field on Wednesday and winning 21-8 at Emmanuel on Saturday. The Pioneers have scored 20 or more goals in three straight games for the first time in program history, and will look for their 10th straight victory in February spanning the past two seasons. The Pioneers will host Mars Hill in their South Atlantic Conference opener on Saturday, March 5.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Senior attack Nate Raymond was named the SAC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring 14 goals and six assists for 20 points in two games last week. Raymond had five goals and an assist in the win over Lees-McRae, then broke the school single-game records with nine goals and 14 points at Emmanuel. Raymond leads the SAC with 27 goals and 40 points, and his 13 assists are tied for third in the conference. Raymond is now sixth in program history with 68 career goals and eighth in points with 92.
Junior midfielder Tristan Kirkham has scored 22 goals and has seven assists for 29 points, ranking him third in the conference in both goals and points. Kirkham has scored four or more goals in all five games for the Pioneers, and has already set career highs for goals and points.
Grad midfielder Lorenz Brown has stretched his school-record streak of consecutive games with a point to 21, and has 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points. Freshman attack Wesley Phillips is second in the conference in assists with 15, and Kale Lawrence has chipped in with 13 goals and four assists for 17 points. Senior midfielder Jordan Daniel is second in the SAC with five man-up goals among his nine goals this season.
Senior midfielder Andy Michalski has been strong on faceoffs all season for the Pioneers, winning 97 of 146 for a 66.4 percent win rate. His 322 career faceoff wins are four behind the school record of 326 set by Alexander Kleinberg from 2014-17, and his 169 career ground balls are four off the record of 173 set by Jake Smith from 2014-16. Michalski's 56 ground balls this season are second in the conference.
On defense, sophomore Nicholas Drennan has 12 ground balls and four caused turnovers, with eight ground balls from Fred Harbinson and six from Tyler Nunenmacher. The Pioneers have 34 caused turnovers through five games and own a 193-116 differential in ground balls.
Senior Ross Geiger collected two wins last week and lowered his goals against average to 9.36, which ranks fifth in the SAC. Geiger has 35 saves and a .493 save percentage, as Tusculum's three keepers have combined for an 8.00 goals against average and a .551 save percentage.
Tusculum leads the SAC in a host of statistical categories, including goals per game (18.6), shooting percentage (41.0 percent) and man-up goals (11). The Pioneers are second in goals against average at 8.00 but rank seventh in clears at 79 percent (79-for-100).
SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
Alabama Huntsville saw its two-game winning streak end on Sunday with a 16-14 loss to Saint Leo in the second of a two-game trip to Florida over the weekend. The Chargers defeated Embry-Riddle 14-10 on Friday after beating Emmanuel 13-8 on the road on Saturday, Feb. 12.
Bryce Ferraro is the leading scorer for UAH with nine goals and three assists for 12 points. Kyle Light has eight goals and an assist for nine points, and Josh Campbell has six goals and four assists for 10 points. Fifteen different players have scored at least one goal for the Chargers, who are averaging 13.4 goals per game.
Sharing time at the faceoff dot are Hunter Coleman, who is 20-for-53 (37.7 percent) and Richie Mohr who has gone 12-for-26 (46.2 percent). Coleman is second on the team with 10 ground balls, behind Joseph Stuber who has 12 ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. The Charger defense is led by Collin Galinski who has seven caused turnovers and nine ground balls.
Zak Welsh has started all five matches in goal for the Chargers and has a .478 save percentage to go with a 10.26 goals against average. The Chargers have allowed 10 goals or less in three of their five games.
UAH is 5-for-20 (25 percent) with the man advantage and has allowed five goals in 19 man-down opportunities (26.3 percent). The Chargers are clearing at an 86.2 percent success rate (81-for-94) but are just 38.4 percent (43-for-69) on faceoffs as a team.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Tusculum leads the all-time series with UAH by a 2-1 margin, winning at a neutral site in 2018 and on the road in 2019 before falling 9-8 in overtime at home on Feb. 29, 2020.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live stats are available for all home Tusculum University men's lacrosse matches. Links to stats and video for home and away matches are posted at tusculumpioneers.com.