GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Michelle Meade scored two goals and Patience Leonard had a goal and two assists as Tusculum College downed King College 6-0 in a non-conference Women's soccer match Wednesday night at the Niswonger Sports Complex / Pioneer Field.
Nine different players recorded at least one point for the Pioneers (5-6-0 overall), who finished with a 20-5 advantage in shots over the Lady Tornado (2-8-0) to pick up their second straight shutout victory. Tramicka James finished with a goal and an assist for the Pioneers, with Amber Marceau and Casey Melnike also scoring in the victory.
Tusculum took a 1-0 lead at 22:20 when Leonard chipped home a cross by James for her third goal of the season. At 25:51, the Pioneers extended the advantage to 2-0 as a corner kick by Courtney Turner was converted by Marceau into her first goal of the year. Just over 90 seconds later, Meade deflected home a cross by Leonard to give the Pioneers a 3-0 edge at 27:27, and Tusculum carried the lead into halftime.
Eight minutes into the second half, a perfect through ball over the top by Jessica Lee resulted in a breakaway for James, and she deposited her fifth goal of the season to boost the Pioneer lead to 4-0. Meade put home her second of the game and sixth of the year at 67:48 with assists to Turner and Leonard to give Tusculum a 5-0 lead.
The Pioneers closed out the scoring in the 76th minute, when a corner kick by Ariana Sigmon was played to Colleen Moloney, and her pass back into the box eluded the Tornado keeper and went to Melnike. She fired home her first goal of the season to cap the scoring in the match.
Tusculum had a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks while both teams were called for nine fouls. The Pioneers were whistled for offsides 10 times as the Tornado defense played up on the Tusculum forwards.
Rachael Jennings earned her second consecutive shutout for the Pioneers by making three saves in goal, while Tornado keeper Abbey Kitts made eight saves, including a pair of point-blank stops.
Tusculum resumes action on Saturday afternoon with a non-conference match at Barton beginning at 4 p.m.
- TC -
