GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's lacrosse team heads to the road this week for a pair of games, looking to build on the momentum of Saturday's win as the Pioneers visit Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday at 1 p.m. and Catawba on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Tusculum (8-5, 2-5 SAC) snapped a five-game losing streak, all against ranked teams, with a 17-9 win over Coker on Saturday. In the win, senior Nate Raymond set the Tusculum single-season goal and point records and freshman Wesley Phillips tied the single-game record for assists with six, part of a nine-point performance.
The eight victories for the Pioneers are the second-most in a season in the program's nine-year history, trailing only the 2017 squad that set records with 11 wins and six conference victories.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Raymond became the Tusculum single-season leader in both goals (45) and points (60) with a fourth-quarter goal against Coker, breaking the records set by Keegan Bell in 2019. Raymond is fourth in the SAC in goals and tied for fifth in points, and has scored a goal in 23 consecutive games.
Phillips, the reigning SAC Offensive Player of the Week, is fourth in the SAC with 29 assists and is third on the team with 45 points. Junior Tristan Kirkham reached the 40-goal mark against Coker and is second on the team with 49 points, with senior Kale Lawrence (25 goals) and grad student Lorenz Brown (24 goals) among seven players in double figures.
Senior Jordan Daniel is fourth on the team in points with 38, on 16 goals and 22 assists, with senior Sean Dunn at 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points. Daniel has scored six man-up goals this season, second on the team to Kirkham who has netted eight.
Senior Andy Michalski has won 52 percent of his faceoffs, and is second in the SAC in faceoff wins with 208 and ground balls with 112. Brown leads Tusculum field players with 36 ground balls, with 29 from Dunn.
Sophomore Nichols Drennan leads Tusculum's defenses with 24 ground balls, and has scored three goals with an assist on offense. Senior Fred Harbinson has 20 ground balls and five caused turnovers, with 17 ground balls from senior Tyler Nunenmacher and 11 from sophomore Nick May, who has seven caused turnovers.
Senior Ross Geiger leads the SAC with 172 saves and set the Tusculum career record for saves with 498. Geiger is seventh in the SAC in save percentage at .507, and had his streak of seven straight games in double figures in saves come to an end with nine saves against Coker.
Tusculum continues to lead Division II in man-up percentage at 57.8 percent (26-for-45) and the Pioneers are fifth in the SAC in goals per game (14.69) and seventh in goals against at 13.54 per game. Tusculum has been the most-accurate shooting team in the conference, putting 70.3 percent of its shots on goal and 38.8 percent in the net.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Lincoln Memorial (4-9, 1-5 SAC) has not played since April 2, when the Railsplitters lost 19-2 at Wingate. LMU was scheduled to play Queens this past Saturday, but the Royals were forced to reschedule the match to April 20 due to COVID protocols.
Freshman Francis O'Hara is the leading scorer for the Railsplitters with 39 points on 23 goals and 16 assists. O'Hara scored a goal in each of the Railsplitters' first nine games, including eight points on three goals and five assists at Shorter on March 22. Freshmen Rhodes Conroy (18 goals) and Caleb Raydo (15 goals) have also reached double figures, along with junior Kevin Jendrasik (12 goals).
Freshman Haden Berry has won 44.7 percent of his faceoffs this season (110-for-246) and leads the team with 53 ground balls, though he has missed the team's last two games. In his absence, freshman Aiden Smith has gone 26-for-54 (48.1 percent) on draws.
The LMU defense is paced by senior Jordan Sullivan, who leads the SAC with 32 caused turnovers and is second on team with 50 ground balls which ranks 11th in the SAC. Freshman Dillon Ricketts has 27 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers.
In goal, sophomore Hunter Rinehart has played every minute and has a 14.24 goals against average and a .463 save percentage. His 156 saves are third most in the SAC and he has reached double figures in saves nine times in 13 games.
The Railsplitters are 10th in the SAC in scoring offense at 8.62 goals per game, and are eighth in goals against at 14.24. Lincoln Memorial ranks ninth in the conference in man-up percentage, scoring 16 goals in 56 opportunities (28.6 percent).
The series between Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial is even at three games apiece. The team have not played since 2019, when the Railsplitters beat the Pioneers 19-14 on the road. Four of the six meetings have been decided by two goals or less, including a pair of road overtime wins by the Pioneers in 2015 and 2017.
Catawba (3-7, 3-3 SAC) went 0-4 to open the season but has split its six conference games, including a 17-13 upset of nationally-ranked Anderson on March 26. The Indians defeated Mars Hill 14-11 on Friday to snap a two-game losing streak, ahead of Wednesday's game at Coker.
Just three players have reached double figures in goals for the Indians, led by junior Matt Mitchell with 21. Sophomore Tucker Fanzo has 15 goals and a team-high 10 assists, and sophomore Bakari Neely has added 14 goals.
Catawba has used four diffeent players on faceoffs, with the most success from senior Payton Leonard who is 15-for-27 (55.6 percent) and leads the team with 37 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers. Freshman Brian Garcia has 11 caused turnovers and 11 ground balls.
Juniors Tyler Holland and James Crighton have each started five games in goal for the Indians. Holland has started the last three games and has 83 saves, while Crighton has made 56 stops.
Catawba is ninth in the SAC in goals per game at 9.10 and in goals against average at 15.00. The Indians are last in the conference in shooting percentage (23.0 percent), shot accuracy (52.7 percent) and man-up opportunities (31). Catawba is 12-for-31 (38.7 percent) on extra man opportunities to rank seventh in the conference.
Tusculum leads the all-time series with Catawba 4-2, but the teams will be playing for the first time since April 20, 2019 when the Pioneers upset the 16th-ranked Indians 11-10 in double overtime to clinch a SAC Tournament berth. Catawba is 2-1 all-time at home against Tusculum.
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.
