NEWBERRY, S.C. --- Newberry College rallied in the third quarter to defeat Tusculum University 13-10 in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Setzler Field.
The Wolves (6-1, 1-1 SAC) won their sixth straight game by outscoring the Pioneers 6-1 in the third quarter after trailing 6-5 at halftime. Chloe Wood scored three of her four goals in the second half, while Marissa Plumer scored three times in the first half for the Wolves. Cassell Richardson had a goal and four assists for Newberry, which outshot Tusculum 29-23 in the match and 18-10 in the second half.
Lucy Brewer led the Pioneers (2-5, 0-2 SAC) with a career-high five goals and an assist, while Tia Tuininga had two goals and an assist and Chloe Michalski added a goal and an assist. Jessica Spiegel and Kylie Marek also scored for the Pioneers, who turned the ball over 13 times in the second half and 23 times in the match.
Tusculum goalkeeper Taylor Floyd made a career-high 15 saves for the Pioneers, including nine in the second half. Nicole Harker had seven saves in the victory for Newberry.
The Pioneers went up 1-0 on a goal by Brewer just 1:32 into the first quarter, and held the lead until Wood scored on a free position shot with 4:50 left. Tuininga responded a minute later for a 2-1 Tusculum lead, but Plumer scored off assists from Richardson twice in 21 seconds to put the Wolves up 3-2 after one quarter.
Plumer would give Newberry a 4-2 lead with 13:45 left in the first half, but Brewer would singlehandedly spark a 4-0 run for the Pioneers as she scored three goals and assisted on one from Spiegel as Tusculum took a 6-4 lead with 5:13 left in the second quarter. Newberry would cut the margin to 6-5 at halftime on a goal from MacKenzie Watson with 45 seconds remaining.
Newberry gained the lead at 7-6 on two free-position goals from Richards and Heather Johnston in a span of 53 seconds, but Michalski tied the score at 7-7 with 8:30 left in the third quarter. Newberry would score the final four goals of the period, two from Wood and one apiece from Adriana Hart and Watson, to go up 11-7 heading to the fourth.
Wood stretched the Newberry lead to 12-7 just 35 seconds in the fourth quarter before Brewer snapped the five-goal Wolves run 22 seconds later. A goal from Hart made it 13-8 Newberry with 12:23 left, but the Pioneers would keep the Wolves scoreless the rest of the way and would pull within 13-10 on goals by Tuininga and Marek with less than five minutes left. Tusculum would have three possessions after Marek's goal with 3:29 remaining, but would get no closer.
Tusculum had 15 draw controls in the match to 13 by Newberry, with Emily Youngblood leading the Pioneers with five and Tuininga adding three. Youngblood and Harley Smith each had two caused turnovers for the Pioneers, while Tuininga and Floyd each collected three ground balls.
For Newberry, Plumer had a team-high five draw controls with four by Plumer, and Plumer and Richardson each had three caused turnovers. Madalyn Messersmith led all players with six ground balls in the match as the Wolves had a 24-16 edge in ground balls.
Newberry was 5-for-9 on free position shots while the Pioneers were 3-for-8 as a team. The Wolves were 14-for-16 on clear attempts and Tusculum went 16-for-19 on clears as a team.
Floyd's 15 saves broke her previous career best of 14 set against Walsh on March 2, 2019 and were the most for a Tusculum keeper since Kate Pipkin had 15 stops against Catawba on April 20, 2019. The school single-game record for saves in 19 set by Brooke Wagner at Lincoln Memorial on April 11, 2018.
Tusculum will return home for the last of its six non-conference games on Tuesday, March 15 against Converse. The Valkyries fell to 0-5 this season with a 21-19 loss to Southern Wesleyan in their Conference Carolinas opener on Saturday.
