GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Erin DePaul and Amara Moss each scored four goals to lead Lincoln Memorial University to a 13-8 win over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
DePaul scored three of her four goals during a 6-1 scoring surge by the Railsplitters (10-5, 4-3 SAC), who led 7-6 at halftime and held the Pioneers scoreless for a span of nearly 21 1/2 minutes in the second half.
Rachel Holmes paced the Pioneers (4-10, 2-4 SAC) with three goals, Juliette Cusano had a goal and two assists and Bailey Lowery, Emily Youngblood and Eliza Ryan had a goal and an assist apiece for Tusculum, which was outshot 23-20 by LMU including 10-5 in the second half.
Casey Kelly contributed two goals and two assists for the Railsplitters and Kennedy Buechner chipped in with a pair of second-half goals as LMU took the lead just before halftime and carried it to the finish, holding Tusculum to just two second-half goals.
Brittany Lowery had the other goal for Tusculum, which came with 2:18 left in the first half and gave the Pioneers their final lead at 6-5. DePaul tied the game with 1:04 to play in the half and Moss gave LMU a 7-6 lead on a goal with 17 seconds before intermission.
Lincoln Memorial opened the scoring on a goal by Moss with 3:34 gone in the first half, but the Pioneers countered with goals from Youngblood and Holmes to go up 2-1 with 24:26 to play in the half. Kelly, DePaul and Rachel Bernhardt scored consecutively to push LMU to a 4-2 lead with 16:03 remaining in the half, but Tusculum would score three of the next four goals as Ryan, Bailey Lowery, Holmes and Brittany Lowery teamed to give Tusculum a 6-5 advantage.
After halftime, DePaul scored just 50 seconds into the second half to give the Railsplitters an 8-6 lead, but Cusano responded with 25:28 left to cut the margin to 8-7. LMU would break a five-minute goal drought as DePaul pushed the Railsplitters out front 9-7 with 20:09 left, followed by goals from Buechner with 12:45 to play and again with 8:17 left for an 11-7 LMU lead.
Holmes would give the Pioneers their final goal of the day with 4:02 remaining before Moss and Kelly closed the scoring with goals in the final three minutes for the Railsplitters.
Cusano led the Pioneers with five draw controls, but Moss had a game-high six for LMU and Jasmin Click added five as the Railsplitters had a 14-9 edge on draws. Hailey Sanders and Linden Perkins paced Tusculum's field players with three ground balls apiece, with Perkins adding three caused turnovers along with Bailey Lowery. Hope Smith led LMU with three caused turnovers and also had a pair of ground balls.
Lincoln Memorial succeeded on 14 of its 20 clear attempts in the contest, while Tusculum was successful on 11-of-16 tries. LMU had a slim 21-20 lead in turnovers, while the Pioneers had a 21-16 advantage in ground balls.
Tusculum keeper Kate Pipkin finished with eight saves and also had a team-high four ground balls for the Pioneers, while Micayla Starnes had six saves and led LMU with three ground balls.
The Pioneers will head to the road on Saturday to face Wingate in a contest beginning at 4 p.m.
- TU -
