GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Limestone University poured 70 shots at the Tusculum University goal as the fourth-ranked Saints came away with a 22-7 victory over the Pioneers in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
A total of 14 different players scored goals for the Saints (8-1, 3-1 SAC), who scored seven goals in each of the first two quarters and added six more in the fourth to earn their fourth consecutive victory. A total of 44 of the Saints' 70 shots went on goal, as Tusculum goalkeeper Ross Geiger was called upon to make 22 saves in the match.
The Pioneers (7-3, 1-3 SAC), who lost their third straight match to a team currently ranked in the USILA Top 20, received two goals from Nate Raymond and one goal apiece from Sean Dunn, Tristan Kirkham, Lorenz Brown, Wesley Phillips and Aiden Caskey in the setback. Tusculum had a 51-23 deficit in ground balls to Limestone, which fired 40 shots at the Tusculum net in building a 14-3 halftime lead.
After the Saints scored the first two goals of the game, Brown scored off a loose ball with 6:18 left in the first quarter to cut the Limestone lead to 2-1. An exchange of goals from the Saints' Mike Carpenter and the Pioneers' Tristan Kirkham left Tusculum facing a 3-2 deficit with 4:33 to play in the quarter, but the Saints scored four times in a 2 1/2 minute span to take a 7-2 lead into the second quarter.
Limestone would score four more goals in a stretch of just over two minutes to go ahead 11-2 with 10:45 left in the first half, and added two more for a 13-2 lead before Dunn broke the Tusculum drought with 3:02 left in the half off an assist from Jordan Daniel. Limestone would tack on one more goal to take a 14-3 lead into halftime.
Tusculum had the advantage over Limestone in the third quarter, with Raymond scoring twice and Phillips once as Tusculum trailed 16-6 after three. Limestone would respond with four in a row to start the fourth quarter before Caskey netted the final goal of the day for the Pioneers with 3:39 remaining.
Individually, Nicholas Drennan and Brown shared the team lead in ground balls for the Pioneers with three apiece, with two each from Kale Lawrence, Geiger, Raymond and Bryce Grimball. The Saints were led in ground balls by faceoff men Tim Ladner and Michael Logan, with Ladner going 14-for-19 with nine ground balls and Logan 8-for-13 with seven ground balls along with a goal.
Tusculum was 0-for-2 with the man advantage and went 12-for-14 on clears, while Limestone was 2-for-3 on the man-up and succeeded in 19 of their 22 clear attempts.
Geiger's 22 saves are the second-most in a game in program history, behind the SAC-record 30 stops he made against Newberry on March 12. For Limestone, William Baxter played the first half in goal and had three saves, Cory Lyons added two in the next quarter and a half, and Shawn Howell and Shane O'Leary made one save apiece in the final seven minutes.
Tusculum will travel to Anderson to face the 19th-ranked Trojans on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Anderson, which upset Wingate a week ago by a score of 14-12, was the victim of its own upset on Saturday when the Trojans fell at Catawba 17-13 to drop to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in SAC play.
