PUEBLO, Colo. --- Colorado State University Pueblo scored six unanswered goals out of halftime and went on to a 14-11 victory over Tusculum University in non-conference men's lacrosse Tuesday night.
The Thunderwolves (2-9) trailed 9-8 at halftime, then held the Pioneers (1-14) without a goal for more than 24 minutes to start the second half while building a 14-9 lead. CSU Pueblo outshot Tusculum 47-31 in the game and forced the Pioneers into 13 second-half turnovers.
Chris Easley led CSU Pueblo with four goals, while Andrew Dzubak and Kyle Parker each finished with three goals and an assist for the Thunderwolves. Wesley Phillips paced the Pioneers with three goals and an assist, with two goals apiece from Clay Mendez, Chase Penner and Ben Hobday and one goal each from Bryce Grimball and Blake Harrison.
CSU Pueblo led 3-0 midway through the first quarter, but the Pioneers collected three goals in just over a minute as Hobday scored twice and Mendez once to tie the game at 3-3 after one quarter.
The Thunderwolves led 5-4 after a goal from Kevin Gallagher with 8:54 to go in the first half, but a goal from Phillips and man-up goals from Harrison and Mendez gave Tusculum its first lead at 7-5 with 5:06 left in the half. Two goals in eight seconds from CSU Pueblo tied the game at 7-7 with 4:26 to play, but Phillips and Grimball pushed the Pioneers back on top 9-7 with 1:02 remaining. Parker's goal with 27 seconds to go trimmed the Tusculum lead to 9-8 at halftime.
Parker would score twice more in the third quarter as the Thunderwolves scored all four goals in the quarter to build a 12-9 lead. Goals from Dzubak and Gallagher stretched the CSUP lead to 14-9 with 8:45 to go, with Penner scoring twice in the last six minutes to set the final margin.
Nolan Ross had eight ground balls and two caused turnovers for the Pioneers, who received seven ground balls from Penner. Nathan Fraser had 12 faceoff wins and eight ground balls for the Pioneers, whose 52 ground balls as a team were a season high.
Dzubak and CJ Rowe shared the team lead with six ground balls for the Thunderwolves, while Bergen Anderson, Logan Place and Tanner Barnard each had four caused turnovers. CSUP was credited with 19 caused turnovers in the match and had 47 ground balls as a team.
Both teams won 15 faceoffs in the match, but Tusculum was 18-for-25 on clears while CSU Pueblo was 16-for-18. Each team had seven extra-man opportunities, with CSU Pueblo scoring three times and Tusculum twice.
Nick Adams played just over 54 minutes in goal and had 14 saves for the Pioneers, with Brenden Pecora playing nearly six minutes without facing a shot. Cole Rutz had eight saves in goal for the Thunderwolves.
Tusculum will close its Colorado road trip and wrap up its 2024 season on Thursday, April 11 when the Pioneers visit Adams State for a 12:30 p.m. (Eastern) match. The Grizzlies are 1-9 overall, with their lone win a 15-11 victory over CSU Pueblo on March 6.
