GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Colburn Connelly scored the winning goal with 22.9 seconds remaining as Young Harris College regrouped after a stunning Tusculum University rally to escape with a 14-13 victory in men's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at a rain-soaked Pioneer Field.
The Mountain Lions (1-1) led 12-6 with four minutes left in the third quarter and held a 13-10 lead with 2 1/2 minutes to go, but the Pioneers (0-1) finished off the rally as freshman Chase Penner scored his seventh goal of the day with 1:09 remaining. However, Young Harris won the ensuing faceoff and worked the ball around to Connelly, whose third goal of the day would be the game-winner.
Penner scored his seven goals on seven shot attempts, with five of his goals assisted by freshman Ben Royer including four during the late-game rally. Clay Mendez had two goals and two assists for the Pioneers, who also received goals from Bryce Grimball, Ben Hobday, Blake Harrison and Royer.
Tommy Chriszt led the Mountain Lions with three goals and four assists, with two goals and an assist each from Grady Stokes and Dylan Young. Young Harris outshot Tusculum 33-24 and had a 19-10 edge in faceoffs in the match.
Both teams were prolific with the man advantage, with Tusculum going 4-for-5 and Young Harris 2-for-3. Three of Penner's goals came with the man up, while Chriszt scored twice with the extra man for the Mountain Lions.
The seven goals by Penner are the most-ever in a game by a Tusculum freshman, and are tied for the second-most goals in a game in program history with Keegan Bell, who had seven goals against Lees McRae on Feb. 9, 2019. The record is nine goals scored by Nate Raymond at Emmanuel on Feb. 19, 2022.
The teams combined for nine goals in the first quarter, with the Pioneers going up 1-0 after one minute on a goal from Royer. Two goals from Penner and one from Mendez after a Hobday tally stretched the Tusculum lead to 5-2 with 3:01 left in the quarter, but Jacob Haas and Stokes responded for the Mountain Lions to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Young Harris would stretch its scoring run to six in a row as the Mountain Lions scored all four goals in the second quarter to take an 8-5 lead at halftime.
Penner's third of the game brought the Pioneers back within 8-6 with 11:19 left in the third quarter, but Young Harris would score four more goals in a row, including two from Chriszt on the man advantage, to build a 12-6 lead with 5:51 left in the third quarter. With field conditions deteriorating due to the heavy rain, the Pioneers got goals from Mendez, Grimball and Penner in a 67-second span to pull within 12-9 heading to the fourth.
The Pioneers pulled within 12-10 on the fifth of the day by Penner with 8:35 left, but Young restored the Mountain Lions' three-goal lead at 13-10 with 6:17 to go. Tusculum still trailed 13-10 with under 2 1/2 minutes left, but a man-up goal from Penner cut the margin to 13-11 with 2:17 to go. Harrison connected off a Mendez feed with 1:34 left to make it a 13-12 game, and Penner delivered the equalizer with 1:09 to play.
On defense, Nicholas Drennan led the Pioneers with seven ground balls, while faceoff men Nathan Fraser and Drake Vance had four ground balls apiece. Vance and Nolan Ross each contributed two caused turnovers for Tusculum. For Young Harris, Kieran Isbister had eight ground balls and three caused turnovers, while Ryan DiFrancisco had three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls. Haas was 18-for-27 on faceoffs and picked up 14 ground balls to lead all players.
The Mountain Lions had a 42-38 advantage in ground balls in the match, while Young Harris had 28 turnovers to 26 by Tusculum. The Pioneers were 20-for-27 on clears and the Mountain Lions were 21-for-25, although all four of their failed clears came in the final period.
Both keepers played all 60 minutes in goal, with Tusculum's Brenden Pecora making 15 saves and Dylan Wilbur earning eight saves for Young Harris.
The Pioneers will play their next four matches on the road, starting Friday, Feb. 16 at Alabama Huntsville beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
