MISENHEIMER, N.C. --- Lenoir-Rhyne University defeated Tusculum College 3-1 in an NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament Southeast Region first-round match Thursday night at N.E. Lefko Field on the campus of Pfeiffer University.
Kevin Nadeau scored in the first half and South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year Ismael Noumansana tallied in the second half along with Marc Fernandez for the sixth-seeded Bears (12-4-3), who will play the second-seeded host Falcons in the second round on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The third-seeded Pioneers (16-4-0), playing in their first NCAA tournament match since 2008, received a goal from Vetle Salte with 12:08 remaining but could not find the equalizer against the Bears, who lost to the 17th-ranked Pioneers 2-1 in their regular-season meeting in Greeneville on Sept. 17.
Tusculum took the first shot of the match after one minute of play, but would not take another shot for nearly 16 minutes as the Bears took the next three shots. Two of the shots came from Nadeau, which were saved by Tusculum keeper Jorge Alvarez in the 6th and 9th minutes.
Nadeau would later beat Alvarez on a through ball at 16:04 for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 Lenoir-Rhyne lead. Nadeau would take two more shots before being substituted in the 31st minute, with Alvarez making a stop in the 24th minute.
After the Bears put another shot on goal off the foot of Fernandez that was saved in the 35th minute, the Pioneers came to life in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the half. A shot by Fabian Proesch went off the post in the 42nd minute, while Pioneer leading scorer Andre De Giorgi shot wide seconds later and put another shot on goal that was saved with two minutes on the clock.
Lenoir-Rhyne outshot Tusculum 9-5 in the first half as Alvarez was called upon to make four saves in the opening 45 minutes. The Bears also had the edge in corner kicks by a 4-1 margin in the opening half.
Tusculum kept up the pressure in the early stages of the second half, as Lenoir-Rhyne keeper Zach King made saves on Erlend Aase in the 46th minute and De Giorgi in the 52nd minute.
Meanwhile, Alvarez made a save on Noumansana in the 53rd minute, but the Bears star came through at 56:13 as he flicked home a through ball from Fernandez for his 17th goal of the season and a 2-0 Lenoir-Rhyne lead.
Trailing by two goals, the Pioneers had a shot by Jonathan Spicher that was saved by King in the 62nd minute, and another attempt seconds later by Shawn Foster that was blocked. Tusculum finally got on the board with 12:06 remaining as Salte took a free kick that deflected off a defender and past King for his first goal of the season, cutting the Bears lead to 2-1.
The Pioneers had their best chance to tie the score with 3:17 left on a corner kick, but Isai Hernandez shot wide on the service from Salte. With every man pushed forward in the final 90 seconds, the Bears' Mitch Botfield cleared the ball to Fernandez, who lofted a shot over Alvarez from 45 yards to extend the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 3-1 with 1:09 remaining.
Tusculum outshot Lenoir-Rhyne 8-6 in the second half, but Lenoir-Rhyne finished the match with a 15-13 advantage. The Bears also led 7-5 in corner kicks, while the Pioneers were whistled for 14 fouls to 10 by Lenoir-Rhyne.
Alvarez, playing in his final game for the Pioneers, had seven saves to increase his career total to 195, the fifth-most in school history. Alvarez also finishes as the school's career leader in goals against average at 1.02 and second in career shutouts with 17.
Tusculum, which opened the season with a school-record 12-game winning streak and reached as high as 7th in the NSCAA Division II poll, earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament field after winning its record sixth SAC Tournament championship with a 2-1 double-overtime win over Lincoln Memorial University on Sunday evening.