WINGATE, N.C. --- Marc Cottage Jr. scored seven goals and Danny Riley recorded six assists as eighth-ranked Wingate University defeated Tusculum University 20-8 in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon.
Willie Grieco had three goals and three assists and Joey Moran scored three goals for the Bulldogs (3-1, 1-0 SAC), who ran off nine straight goals in the second half after opening the game with five consecutive goals.
Will Cookman and Tristan Kirkham scored three goals apiece for the Pioneers (3-1, 0-1 SAC) and Jordan Daniel had a goal and three assists for Tusculum, which was outshot 53-31 by Wingate and lost the faceoff battle to the Bulldogs by a 22-10 margin.
The Pioneers were 4-for-8 with the man advantage, with two goals apiece from Cookman and Kirkham. Tusculum finished with 26 turnovers to 20 by Wingate and were 16-for-28 on clears compared to 17-for-20 by the Bulldogs.
Cottage scored three goals in the first nine minutes as the Bulldogs went up 5-0 following a goal from Moran with 3:51 left in the opening quarter. Tusculum got on the scoreboard with 3:29 remaining on a goal from Cookman, but Zach Samson scored in the final minute to push Wingate's lead to 6-1 after a quarter.
The teams played even in the second quarter, with the Pioneers receiving two goals from Kirkham and a goal and an assist from both Wesley Phillips and Daniel. Daniel's goal came with seven seconds remaining in the half and pulled the Pioneers within 10-5 at intermission.
After a goal from Cottage gave Wingate an 11-5 lead just 18 seconds into the second half, the Pioneers received back-to-back man-up goals from Cookman and Kirkham to cut the deficit to 11-7 with 11:43 left in the quarter. Cottage and Grieco would respond with two goals apiece, including three in a span of 92 seconds, as Wingate carried a 15-7 lead to the final quarter.
Wingate collected the first five goals of the fourth quarter, coming from five different players, before Cookman ended the Tusculum drought with his third goal of the game and second man-up goal with 44 seconds left.
Tusculum had 48 ground balls as a team, led by five from Kirkham and four apiece from Aaron Fabelo and Bryce Grimball. Nolan Ross and Bauer Swystun each had two caused turnovers, with Fabelo winning eight out of 17 on faceoffs.
Riley had six ground balls to lead the Bulldogs, and shared the team lead of two caused turnovers with Peyton Farley and Grieco. Dylan Rupprecht went 12-for-16 on faceoffs and had eight ground balls, with Donovan Jones going 10-for-14 with four ground balls for Wingate.
Tusculum goalkeeper Riley Semmes finished with 19 saves for the Pioneers while Johnny Caponi had five saves in the first 55 minutes and Ashton Loe had one stop in the final five minutes for Wingate.
The Pioneers will return to the road to face Lees-McRae on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m. in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The Bobcats are 0-5 which includes back-to-back losses to ranked teams Anderson and Colorado Mesa.
