HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Brooke Wagner broke her own school single-game record with 19 saves and Tusculum won its fourth consecutive match with a 14-8 victory at Lincoln Memorial in SAC women's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon.
Juliette Cusano scored four goals, Madison Malone had three goals and three assists and Erin Sims scored three times for the Pioneers (6-8, 4-2 SAC), who matched the longest winning streak in program history with their fourth straight victory, equaling streaks set during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Wagner had seven saves in the first half and 12 in the second half to break her single-game record of 17 saves she set against Chowan on Feb. 28, 2015. It was the eighth time in 60 career appearances for Wagner that she finished in double figures in saves. She also assisted on a goal by Cusano midway through the second half that gave the Pioneers a 10-6 lead.
Amara Moss led the Railsplitters (6-7, 1-5 SAC) with three goals, with two goals by Casey Kelly and a goal and an assist from Kennedy Buechner. Lincoln Memorial trailed 4-0 after 23 minutes and could get no closer than three goals the rest of the afternoon.
The Pioneers opened the scoring nearly 7 1/2 minutes into the first half on a goal by Megann McKinney, and the lead expanded to 4-0 on goals by Malone, Cusano and Emily Gleason. Lincoln Memorial got on the board with 6:39 left in the half on a goal from Kelly, and cut the deficit to 4-2 on a Zoe Zervos goal with 4:54 left. Rachel Holmes scored nearly a minute later to give the Pioneers a 5-2 lead, which stood all the way to intermission.
Moss tried to start a LMU comeback with a pair of goals in the first eight minutes of the third quarter, but goals from the Pioneers' Cusano and Malone in between the Moss tallies kept the Tusculum lead at 7-4 with 22:02 left. Cusano answered goals from the Railsplitters' Erin DePaul and Buechner as Tusculum led 10-6 with 13:26 to play, followed by three straight goals from Sims over a four-minute span which pushed the Pioneers on top 13-6 with 8:35 left. Moss and Kelly scored 23 seconds apart to bring LMU within 13-8 with 7:05 to go, but Holmes scored the final goal of the afternoon with 6:12 remaining.
Lincoln Memorial outshot Tusculum 41-24 in the match, including a 29-9 margin in the second half. The Railsplitters edged the Pioneers 25-24 in ground balls, and had a commanding 20-4 advantage in draw controls. Tusculum was successful on 24-of-29 clear attempts, and turned the ball over 17 times to 18 for LMU. The Railsplitters were just 1-for-8 on free-position shots, compared to 3-for-6 by the Pioneers.
In addition to her 19 saves, Wagner had a team-high eight ground balls for the Pioneers, while Shelby Gray and Cusano had three apiece and Cusano and Claire Stanton each recorded a pair of caused turnovers. Moss finished with nine draw controls for the Railsplitters, with five by Zervos and four from Kelly. Zervos also contributed six ground balls, with four apiece from Moss, DePaul and goalkeeper Shannon Novak. Novak had eight saves for LMU in the match, all coming in the first half.
Tusculum will host Wingate on Saturday at noon at Pioneer Field as the team celebrates Senior Day prior to its match with the Bulldogs.
