A seven-goal run in the fourth quarter pushed Lenoir-Rhyne University to an 18-10 win over Tusculum College in a South Atlantic Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship semifinal game Thursday afternoon at the Queens University of Charlotte Sports Complex.

Ben Corrigan, Carson Sterling and Will Remsen scored four goals apiece as the top-seeded Bears (11-4) advance to Saturday's championship game against the winner of Thursday's other semifinal game between Queens and Wingate. Taylor Thilo added three goals for the Bears, while Mike Hanlon had two goals and three assists.

Nate Wade finished with four goals and Ben Boyd scored three times for the Pioneers (5-10), who were appearing in their first conference semifinal game after defeating Coker 12-9 on Tuesday in a quarterfinal matchup.

Lenoir-Rhyne, ranked 16th in the latest U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, finished with a 57-38 advantage in shots over Tusculum, but the Pioneers had a 25-20 edge in ground balls and won 18 of the 31 faceoffs in the game against the Bears.

Tusculum trailed 4-0 at the end of one quarter, but cut the deficit to 8-6 at halftime and pulled within a goal in the third quarter. However, the Bears scored the first seven goals of the fourth quarter after leading 11-9 over the Pioneers heading into the period.

The Bears needed 47 seconds to score the first goal of the game off the stick of Corrigan. Sterling, Remsen and Corrigan added goals to extend the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 4-0 at the end of one quarter, which saw the Bears outshoot the Pioneers 20-4.

Thilo scored a man-up goal to push the Bears up 5-0 with 13:25 left in the first half, but Nate Wade put the Pioneers on the board with 11:31 remaining to cut the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 5-1. After Sterling scored to give the Bears a 6-1 lead with 10:47 remaining in the half, the Pioneers came storming back with three goals in 42 seconds. Boyd scored a pair and Wade added one to bring the Pioneers within 6-4 with 8:53 to go in the half.

Goals eight seconds apart by Corrigan and Wade kept the Bears on top 7-5 with 7:25 remaining in the half, then Sterling's third of the game extended the Lenoir-Rhyne advantage to 8-5 with 5:11 left in the second quarter. The Pioneers broke through just before the half as Chris Ryan scored with one second left to send Tusculum to the half trailing 8-6.

Lenoir-Rhyne outshot Tusculum 35-14 in the first half, but shots on goal were only a 17-11 lead for the Bears. Tusculum held an 8-7 edge in faceoffs in the half, while the Bears had a slim 13-12 advantage in ground balls.

In the third quarter, Boyd scored his third of the game with 11:16 remaining to pull the Pioneers within 8-7. Tusculum had a pair of shots in a bid to tie the score, but were unable to convert and the Bears restored their two-goal lead on Corrigan's fourth of the afternoon with 5:26 left in the quarter.

Thilo scored with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter to extend Lenoir-Rhyne's lead to 10-7, but Dallas Wade scored for the first time in the game with 45 seconds left in the quarter to pull the Pioneers back within 10-8. After the Bears' Remsen answered just 11 seconds later, it was Nate Wade who responded 15 seconds after that to cut the Bears' lead to 11-9 heading to the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Bears went on top 12-9 as Joe Buduo scored his first goal of the afternoon with 12:40 left. Hanlon followed with his first of the day with 11:19 left, and Sterling tallied with 10:02 to play for his fourth of the afternoon and a 14-9 Bears lead.

From there, Remsen added two more goals while Thilo and Hanlon added one apiece to help the Bears advance to Saturday's championship game. Ryan closed out the scoring with his second goal of the game with 43 seconds left on a man-up goal.

Senior Jake Smith, who appeared in his final game for the Pioneers, finished with a team-high eight ground balls and also had a pair of caused turnovers. Nate Wade had four ground balls for Tusculum, while going 9-for-11 at the faceoff dot. Also appearing in his final game for the Pioneers was senior Mitch Chapman, who had a pair of assists along with two ground balls.

The Lenoir-Rhyne defense received five ground balls from Shane Gottberg, while Connor Kroll had three. Gottberg was the top faceoff man for the Bears, finishing with 12 wins and 15 losses at the dot.

Tusculum goalkeeper Kevin Haggerty finished with 11 saves in the game, while Ryan Crompton had 13 saves for Lenoir-Rhyne. Haggerty had nine of his 11 saves in the first half, while Crompton made eight of his 13 stops after halftime.

Dallas Wade finished the season for the Pioneers by setting school single-season records for goals (32) and points (38) while Tyler Klarner set the single-season record with 13 assists. Additional single-season records were set by Smith, who had 75 ground balls, and Haggerty, who made 189 saves.