GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Eighth-ranked Wingate University defeated Tusculum University 21-5 in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Sean Clark scored five goals, Danny Riley had three goals and four assists and Willie Grieco added a goal and seven assists for the Bulldogs (6-2, 3-0 SAC), who outshot the Pioneers by a 63-25 margin.
Five different players scored goals for the Pioneers (1-8, 0-4 SAC), with Chase Penner scoring a goal and an assist along with one goal apiece from TJ Caldwell, William Nuzzo, Wesley Phillips and Diego Hopkins.
Wingate outshot Tusculum 28-9 in the second half as the Pioneer committed 22 of their 29 turnovers after halftime. The Bulldogs were 23-for-25 on clears while the Pioneers went 24-for-31 as a team.
Tusculum goalkeeper Brenden Pecora finished with a season-high 24 saves for the Pioneers, including 10 stops in the first quarter. Wingate was 2-for-5 with the man advantage and owned a 48-30 edge in ground balls over Tusculum.
A goal from Riley in the opening 3 1/2 minutes was answered by Penner with 9:37 left in the first quarter, but Wingate would score the final four goals of the period and seven straight in all to go up 8-1 with 12:13 left in the first half. Phillips scored with 10:18 remaining, but Wingate would tack on three more to build a 12-2 lead at intermission.
A goal from Nuzzo with 12:17 left in the third quarter would be the only tally of the period for the Pioneers, who received goals from Caldwell early in the fourth and from Hopkins with 2:06 remaining.
Nathan Fraser was 8-for-17 on faceoffs for the Pioneers and had three ground balls, while Nolan Ross had three caused turnovers for Tusculum. Faceoff men Dylan Rupprecht, Brian McGarvey and Logan Spaeth each had four ground balls for the Bulldogs.
Quad Williams started in goal for Wingate and made 13 saves in 49 minutes, followed by Matt Janotte who allowed a goal on the only shot he faced in the final 11 minutes.
Tusculum will visit Anderson in its next match on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. The Trojans lost in overtime 13-12 to 15th-ranked Lander on Saturday to drop to 3-5 overall. Each of Anderson's last four losses have come to ranked teams.
