GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lincoln Memorial University collected a 17-8 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
The Railsplitters (6-6, 2-3 SAC) received four goals and two assists from Jaedyn Ryba and three goals apiece from Ryann Doyle and Kelly Csenar, and outscored the Pioneers (3-7, 1-4 SAC) by a 9-2 margin in the second half.
Lucy Brewer led the Pioneers with three goals, while Kamryn McNeil had two goals and an assist. Tia Daniel registered a goal and two assists for the Pioneers, while Abby Lockwood and Jadyn Gleason also scored for Tusculum.
Tusculum took the early 2-0 lead on goals from Brewer and Gleason, but Lincoln Memorial scored twice in two minutes to tie the game at 2-2 on a Ryba goal with 5:00 to play in the first quarter. Two goals from McNeil sandwiched goals from LMU's Camdyn Bullard and Ryba as the teams finished the opening period tied at 4-4.
LMU took its first lead at 5-4 on a goal from Sophia Gardea with 12:59 left in the second quarter, and went up 7-4 as Ryba and Josie Tinnerello added goals for the Railsplitters. Brewer and Daniel helped pull the Pioneers back within 7-6 with 1:49 left in the first half, but a goal by Gardea with four seconds left put Lincoln Memorial up 8-6 at halftime.
Doyle scored all three of her goals in the third quarter, two off assists from Ryba, while Csenar and Delaney Duck also scored to build the Railsplitters' lead to 12-6 with 3:18 left in the third. Brewer would pull Tusculum back within 12-7 with 2:32 left, but a goal from Doyle with 2:04 to play and one from Chandler Bell at the buzzer sent LMU to the fourth with a 14-7 advantage.
Lincoln Memorial went up 16-7 with 10:29 remaining following goals from Ryba and Breanna Booth, before Lockwood connected on a free-position shot with 8:33 to go. Csenar would close the scoring with 1:29 to play.
Daniel led the Pioneers with six draw controls, while Brewer had five draw controls, two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Chloe Michalski had two caused turnovers and three ground balls for Tusculum, who also received three ground balls from Haylee Cureton and two caused turnovers from Celeste Raya.
Doyle and Ryba each had three draw controls for the Railsplitters, while Gardea and Haleigh Barnett each had a team-high three ground balls.
Lincoln Memorial outshot Tusculum 33-20 in the match and had a 20-18 advantage in ground balls. The Railsplitters had the 14-13 edge in draw controls, while LMU committed 22 turnovers to 25 for Tusculum.
Kari Ham played the first three quarters in goal for the Pioneers and made eight saves, with Emily White making two saves in the fourth quarter. For LMU, Elle Miller played 49 1/2 minutes and had seven saves, followed by Grace Grana with two saves in the final 10 1/2 minutes of play.
Tusculum will be home to face Catawba on Saturday, April 1 at 4 p.m. The Indians defeated Coker 13-7 on Wednesday for their second win in three games, moving their record to 3-9 overall and 1-4 in the SAC.
