Nicolette Salay led a balanced Catawba College attack with four
goals as the Indians defeated Tusculum College 15-7 in South
Atlantic Conference Women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at
Newman Park.
Five players had two goals apiece for the Indians (4-4, 2-1 SAC),
who used a 5-0 run early in the second half to build upon a 7-3
halftime lead over the Pioneers (7-3, 2-2 SAC). Meredith Jones,
Kirstyn Kruse and Erin Green each had two goals and two assists in
the win for the Indians.
Cheyenne Bray, Savannah Elliott and Erin Sims each had two goals
for the Pioneers, while Madison Malone had a goal and an assist and
finished with a game-high six draw controls. Tusculum was outshot
25-23 by Catawba, and had 16 ground balls as a team to 22 for the
Indians.
Salay scored the first two goals of the match in a span of 42
seconds to help the Indians to a 3-0 lead, but Elliott scored twice
in less than two minutes to cut the margin to 3-2. Jones pushed the
Indians on top 4-2 before Sims responded to pull the Pioneers
within 4-3 with 16:08 left in the half.
However, the Indians would score the final three goals of the half
to take a 7-3 lead to intermission. Catawba outshot Tusculum 12-9
in the first half and had a 7-4 advantage in draw controls in the
opening 30 minutes.
Malone scored just 43 seconds into the second half to bring the
Pioneers within 7-4, but the Indians tallied five unanswered goals
over the next six minutes to go on to 12-4 with 19:55 left. Bray
scored with 16:56 to go to snap the Catawba run, but two more goals
from the Indians put the hosts on top 14-5 with 8:42 left. Goals
from Sims and Bray in the final 8 1/2 minutes closed the scoring
for the Pioneers, while Salay scored her fourth and final goal with
2:13 left to set the final score.
Defensively, Sims led the Pioneers with six ground balls while
Christen Craig added three. Calyn Kelly had four draw controls and
a pair of caused turnovers, while Kaitlin Winnie had two caused
turnovers for Tusculum in the match. For Catawba, Gracie Wolfman
had a team-high four ground balls and also had a team-best three
caused turnovers, while Hannah Scott led the Indians with four draw
controls.
Brooke Wagner played nearly 37 1/2 minutes in goal for the Pioneers
and had two saves, while Kaele Lawless saw just over 22 1/2 minutes
of action and made one stop. For Catawba, Bethany Davis played all
60 minutes in goal and had eight saves.
Tusculum returns home to face Lincoln Memorial in a SAC match on
Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Pioneer Field.
