Dallas Wade scored his fifth goal of the game with 3:20 left in
the fourth quarter to give Tusculum College a 12-11 victory over
Emmanuel College in non-conference men's lacrosse action Saturday
afternoon.
Keegan Bell added three goals and an assist and Andrew Kransberger
scored twice for the Pioneers (2-4), who overcame an early 4-1
deficit behind three first-half goals from Wade, then erased an
11-10 deficit in the final eight minutes as Wade scored the tying
and winning goals.
Justin Mills led the Lions (1-7) with three goals and an assist,
with Craig Marentette adding two goals and two assists and Darian
Richardson netting a pair of goals. However, Tusculum finished the
game with a 40-28 advantage in shots and a 17-9 edge in faceoffs in
the contest.
Tusculum fell behind 3-0 after three minutes on goals by
Marentette, Michael Campbell Jr. and Tanner Smith, but Tyler
Klarner scored just 13 seconds after Smith's goal to put the
Pioneers on the scoreboard. Mills gave the Lions a 4-1 lead with a
goal with 10:36 left in the first quarter, but the Pioneers came
back with four unanswered goals to go on top 5-4. Chris Ryan
brought the Pioneers within 4-2 before Wade scored twice to tie the
game 4-4 with 3:07 left in the quarter. Kransberger then came
through with the go-ahead goal to put the Pioneers on top 5-4 with
33 seconds left in the period.
Wade's third goal of the game just over a minute into the second
quarter gave the Pioneers a 6-4 lead, but the Lions answered with
goals from Mills and Sam Clay to tie the score 6-6 with 9:45 left
in the first half. Bell then scored goals sandwiched around a tally
from Emmanuel's Tyler Machado, with the second goal from Bell
sending Tusculum to the half on top 8-7.
A goal from Richardson early in the third quarter tied the score at
8-8, but the Pioneers answered with goals from Kransberger and Bell
to take a 10-8 lead with 6:52 remaining in the quarter. However,
Emmanuel received goals 36 seconds apart from Marentette and Mills,
the latter tying the game at 10-10 with 3:04 left in the
period.
Richardson gave the Lions their final lead of the day at 11-10 on a
goal with 9:44 remaining, but Wade tied it with his fourth of the
afternoon with 7:38 left. Wade then found the net with 3:20 to go
to give the Pioneers the decisive 12-11 lead, and the defense would
not allow a shot on goal the rest of the way to help preserve the
win.
On defense, Jake Smith and Ross Parsons each had three caused
turnovers for the Pioneers, while Alexander Kleinberg was 17-for-26
on faceoffs and had seven ground balls. Wade added three ground
balls for the Pioneers, who forced the Lions into 14 turnovers in
the game. Austin Brundgate led Emmanuel with three caused turnovers
while Machado had a team-high three ground balls.
Kevin Haggerty made six of his seven saves in the second half for
Tusculum to earn the victory in goal, while Jake Padden had 11
saves between the pipes for Emmanuel.
Tusculum returns to play their first home game at Pioneer Field
since the season opener when the Pioneers host Lenoir-Rhyne in a
South Atlantic Conference matchup next Saturday at 3 p.m.
