Tusculum College scored the first five goals and never trailed
in a 15-8 victory over Brevard College in a South Atlantic
Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship quarterfinal game Tuesday
afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Kelsey Crow had four goals and two assists while Savannah Elliott
scored four goals for the fourth-seeded Pioneers (11-5), who
advance to play top-seeded Queens University of Charlotte in a
semifinal game on Friday at 4 p.m. at Queens.
Shelby Klotz and Nina Siu had three goals apiece for the Tornados
(9-7), who lost SAC Player of the Year Caitlyn Nemeth to injury
early in the second half and were outshot 31-17 by the Pioneers in
the first postseason game in the program's brief history.
The Pioneers, who lost to Coker in last year's quarterfinals, led
5-0 after 17 minutes and added another five-goal run spanning
halftime for the program's first postseason win. Hayley Bartlett
and Alycea Ohl each had two goals and two assists for the Pioneers,
while Cheyenne Bray had two goals and an assist along with a team
season-high 10 draw controls.
Madison Malone finished with a goal and three assists for the
Pioneers, breaking the conference single-season record of 44
assists set last season by Abigail Paulus of Queens. Malone has 45
assists for the Pioneers this season to go along with 20 goals for
a team-best 65 points.
Crow, who also had two assists, increased her career goal total at
Tusculum to 99, leaving her one goal shy of becoming the first
player in program history to reach the 100-goal milestone.
Tusculum scored the first goal just 2:19 into the first half as
Crow scored off a feed from Malone. The pair connected again in the
opposite direction just 3 1/2 minutes later, as Crow fed Malone for
a 2-0 Pioneer lead. Goals from Bray, Bartlett and Crow extended the
Tusculum lead to 5-0 with 13:43 left in the first half before
Nemeth scored with 11:20 remaining to put the Tornados on the
board.
Two goals by Elliott were sandwiched around a goal from Siu, giving
the Pioneers a 7-2 lead at halftime on the strength of an 18-7 edge
in shots. Tusculum also won eight of the 10 draws in the first half
and forced Brevard into 15 turnovers, eight of them on failed
clears.
In the second half, the Pioneers extended their lead to 11-2 with
four goals in the first 6 1/2 minutes. Elliott scored the first and
last goals during the run, with Bartlett and Crow also tallying for
the Pioneers. Brevard came back with two goals from Klotz and one
from Siu to pull within 11-5 with 14:46 to play, but Bray, Crow and
Ohl responded over a 2 1/2 minutes span to restore the Pioneers'
nine-goal lead at 14-5 with 10:40 to play. The Tornados scored
three of the final four goals, with a tally from Ohl with 2:33 left
capping the scoring for the Pioneers.
In addition to her 10 draw controls, which were one shy of her
career high set last season, Bray had two ground balls and two
caused turnovers for the Pioneers. Erin Sims added three ground
balls and two caused turnovers, while Malone, Christen Craig and
Jordan Smith had two caused turnovers apiece. Crow led the Pioneers
with five ground balls in the game.
The Tornados were led on defense by Amber Breedy, who had five
caused turnovers and five ground balls. Sade Allen had three ground
balls and a pair of draw controls for the Tornados, who lost the
draw battle to the Pioneers by a 19-6 margin.
Brooke Wagner played 57 1/2 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and
made three saves, while Shelby Arsenault finished with 10 saves in
goal for the Tornados.
On Friday, Tusculum will attempt to hand Queens their first-ever
loss to a conference opponent. The Royals have gone 22-0 in the
regular season against SAC teams over the last three years, and won
both of the previous SAC Tournament championships. The Royals
defeated Tusculum 24-11 in Charlotte on April 2 in the teams'
regular-season meeting.
In the other semifinal, sixth-seeded Catawba will play
second-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. The Indians
defeated third-seeded Wingate 13-12 in Tuesday's other quarterfinal
matchup.
