NEWBERRY, S.C. --- Rachel Roberts scored the tiebreaking goal late in the first half, and Tusculum made it stand as the game-winner in a 2-1 victory at Newberry in South Atlantic Conference women's soccer action Saturday afternoon.
Cheyenne Upton also scored for the Pioneers (6-2-0, 4-1-0 SAC), who won for the fifth time in six matches after outshooting the Wolves (2-7-0, 1-4-0 SAC) by a margin of 23-10.
Upton had the first shot on goal of the match in the 10th minute, but was saved by Wolves keeper Jayleen Gant. Just over a minute and a half later, Upton went down the right side of the box and scored past Gant to the left for her second goal of the season and a 1-0 Pioneer lead at 10:47.
Tusculum keeper Hannah Graham had her first save of the match in the 14th minute on Alyssa Ortega, but Ortega was able to launch a shot past Graham off a feed from Sydney Dempsey at 27:36 to even the score at 1-1.
The Pioneers gained the lead with just 1:20 left in the first half as Roberts scored her second goal of the season on an assist from Katja Andersson. Tusculum outshot Newberry 13-6 in the first half and took all five corner kicks in the half.
Tusculum put pressure on the Newberry net in the early stages of the second half, with Gant making saves on Maddie Vossen in the 52nd minute, Upton in the 55th minute and Brooke Radcliffe in the 58th minute. The Wolves' first shot of the second half came from Ortega in the 63rd minute and was stopped by Graham.
The Pioneers continued to look for an insurance goal in the latter stages of the second half, but Gant made saves on Carlie Thornber in the 73rd minute, Carly Culler in the 78th minute and Kate Guildford in the 79th minute. The last shot attempt of the match came from Ortega with 1:16 left, but the ball sailed high over the Tusculum goal.
Gant finished with 10 saves in goal for Newberry, while Graham had three saves in the match for Tusculum. The Pioneers finished with an 8-1 edge in corner kicks over the Wolves, while Newberry was whistled for 10 fouls to eight by Tusculum.
Tusculum will play its second straight match in South Carolina on Monday night at 7 p.m. at Limestone in non-conference action.
