Columbus State University broke a scoreless halftime tie with a pair of second-half goals and defeated Tusculum College 2-0 in the opening day of action at the CSU Collegiate Invitational in Women's soccer action Friday night.

Chelsea Person scored in the 52nd minute and Tori Hood added a goal in the 74th minute for the Cougars (1-2-0), who were ranked 13th in the preseason NSCAA Division II poll but fell out of the survey after opening the year with losses to top-ranked West Florida and second-ranked Grand Valley State.

The Pioneers (1-2-1) lost their second straight match as they try to give head coach Mike Joy his 300th career victory. Tusculum was outshot 26-6 by Columbus State, which put three shots off the post in addition to the 10 shots put on the Pioneer goal.

The Cougars had an 11-2 edge in shots in the first half but were kept off the scoreboard by Pioneer keeper Marissa Williams, who made three of her eight saves in the first 45 minutes. Columbus State broke through at 51:34 as Casey Davis sent a quick free kick to Person, who put home her first goal of the season for a 1-0 Cougars lead.

Columbus State added an insurance tally at 73:54 as Hood received a pass from Taylor Marks and deposited her second goal of the season for a 2-0 margin. Meosha Hatcher went on to earn the shutout in goal for the Cougars by making five saves in the contest.

Tusculum will be back in action Sunday morning at 10 a.m. when they face ninth-ranked Tampa in the final day of action at the CSU Collegiate Invitational.