HARTSVILLE, S.C. --- Hannah Shuren scored eight goals and Coker University scored five straight goals in a span of 5 1/2 minutes early in the second half to defeat Tusculum University 16-14 in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon.
The Cobras (2-6, 1-5 SAC) trailed by as many as three goals in the first half before taking the lead for good early in the second half. The Pioneers (1-2, 0-2 SAC) were down four goals midway through the second half but rallied to within one with just over four minutes left before Coker scored an insurance goal with two minutes remaining.
Juliette Cusano scored five goals and had 12 draw controls in the match, one shy of her school single-game record while moving her within two of the school career record of 222 held by Madison Malone (2015-18). Megann McKinney had four goals, Tia Tuininga and Emily Youngblood each had two goals and Briana Minter scored once for the Pioneers, who had a commanding 25-6 edge in draw controls and outshot the Cobras by a 36-32 margin.
Shuren scored four goals in each half for the Cobras, and was joined in the scoring column by Amariah Lawson, Meagan Gallagher and Alyssa-Baronella-O'Toole with two apiece and one from Olivia Fladung and Alexis Zegan. Shuren was 5-for-5 on free-position shots and scored on eight of her 10 shots on goal, while adding two assists.
Shuren opened the scoring 2:20 into the first half, but Minter scored to tie the match at 1-1 after five minutes. A goal by Fladung briefly gave Coker a 2-1 lead, as the Pioneers ran off four in a row in a 2:15 span as McKinney and Tuininga scored twice apiece for a 5-2 Tusculum lead with 20:17 left in the half.
Coker cut the margin to one on goals by Shuren and Gallagher, but Cusano gave the Pioneers a 6-4 lead with 14:02 to go in the half. Two more goals from the Cobras' Baronella-O'Toole and Shuren tied the game at 6-6 with 8:35 left, and an exchange of goals from Cusano and Shuren sent the teams to intermission tied 7-7.
McKinney scored her third of the game for an 8-7 Tusculum lead with 26:58 to play, but Shuren tied the game with 23:24 left. A goal from Gallagher gave the Cobras the lead for good at 9-8 with 22:42 remaining, then Shuren scored on a pair of free-position shots followed by a free-position goal from Zegan for a 12-8 Coker lead with 17:56 left.
Cusano and Baronella-O'Toole exchanged goals 12 seconds apart as Coker led 13-9 with 17:25 to play. Cusano and Youngblood scored 26 seconds apart to trim the Cobras' lead to 13-11 with 14:05 to play, but the Pioneers went scoreless for the next 7 1/2 minutes as goals from Shuren and Lawson extended Coker's lead to 15-11. Cusano broke the Tusculum drought with 6:34 to go, followed closely by McKinney and Youngblood as the Pioneers trailed 15-14 with 4:14 to go.
Tusculum had a chance for the tying goal with 2:58 left, but Coker keeper Abby Kellner made a save on a free-position shot by Cusano to preserve the one-goal lead for the Cobras. Lawson scored on a free-position shot with 1:53 left and the Cobras did not allow a shot the rest of the match.
Cusano and Tuininga each had a pair of ground balls for the Pioneers, while Lawson, Zegan and Quyntessa Tyson each had three ground balls to lead the Cobras.
Tusculum keeper Kate Pipkin finished with 11 saves for the Pioneers while Kellner had 15 saves in goal for the Cobras.
The Pioneers will travel to face Lenoir-Rhyne on Monday at 6 p.m. The match was originally scheduled for March 13 but was rescheduled due to SAC Return to Play protocols.
