GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Kale Lawrence scored six goals in a 10-minute span of the second quarter, including three of Tusculum University's seven man-up goals in the match, as the Pioneers beat Lees-McRae 19-5 in non-conference men's lacrosse action Sunday at Pioneer Field.
The Pioneers went 7-for-7 with the man advantage to tie the program single-game record for man-up goals set against Emmanuel in 2017. Tusculum also tied the school record for most goals in a quarter, scoring 10 times in the second period to equal the mark set against Lees-McRae in 2014 and matched last year against Barton.
Tusculum (2-2) scored the first 13 goals of the match and outshot Lees-McRae (0-6) by a 52-25 margin. Jordan Daniel, Josh Pickford, Riley Burns and Luke Doehring scored two goals apiece for the Pioneers, who also received goals from Nash Johnson, Will Cookman, AJ Hems, Tristan Kirkham and Lorenz Brown in the victory. Liam Macdonald had four assists, all coming on Lawrence's goals in the second quarter, while Aiden Caskey, Hems and Daniel had two assists apiece.
Ryan Beauchamp led Lees-McRae with two goals and an assist, Craig Barr had a goal and an assist and Jackson Galloway and Mike Moore also scored goals for the Bobcats, who turned the ball over 20 times and went 13-for-24 on clears. Tusculum also enjoyed a 46-21 advantage in ground balls over Lees-McRae and the Pioneers won 16 of the 25 faceoffs in the match.
Lawrence scored twice in 48 seconds early in the second quarter with the man advantage, as the Pioneers scored four times during a three-minute non-releasable penalty against the Bobcats' Barr for having an illegal stick. Lawrence then scored four goals in a row over nearly five minutes to give him six goals in 10 minutes, 12 seconds of playing time.
Tusculum needed just 42 seconds to get on the board as Burns scored the first goal of the match, followed in the next four minutes by Brown and Daniel for a 3-0 Tusculum lead. Hems and Doehring added goals in the final six minutes of the first quarter to give the Pioneers a 5-0 edge, which began with the man advantage after Barr was called for the stick foul with 10 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Lawrence and Pickford each scored twice with the man advantage to give the Pioneers a 9-0 lead with 12:26 left in the first half. After Lawrence's run of four straight goals, Lees-McRae got on the board as Beauchamp won a faceoff and went all the way for the goal with 4:14 to play in the half. Tusculum scored twice in the final minute, as Johnson and Daniel combined to give the Pioneers a 15-1 lead at the break.
Burns scored the sixth man-up goal of the match for the Pioneers with 11:59 left in the third quarter, but it would be the only goal of the period for Tusculum as Beauchamp and Moore each scored to leave the Pioneers ahead 16-3 starting the fourth quarter. Kirkham netted a man-up goal with 11:45 to play, with the teams trading off goals from Barr and Galloway for the Bobcats and Doehring and Cookman for the Pioneers.
Andy Michalski went 12-for-15 on faceoffs for the Pioneers and finished with a game-high seven ground balls. Daniel had five ground balls, Brown four and Cam Phillips and Nathan Fraser three apiece for the Pioneers. For Lees-McRae, four different players had three ground balls including Beauchamp who was 7-for-13 on faceoffs.
Both teams split the goalie duties in the match, with Tusculum starter Ross Geiger making four saves in the first half and Ryan Pickering following with seven in the second half. Jack Cruz had 10 saves in the first half for the Bobcats, with Josh Csayni adding five saves and allowing just four goals in the second half.
Tusculum will play its third straight home game on Saturday, Feb. 29 when the Pioneers welcome Alabama Huntsville for a noon match at Pioneer Field. The Chargers (1-2), who will be playing their first road match of the season, beat Lander 13-7 in their season opener on Feb. 1 before losses to Saint Leo (10-8) on Feb. 15 and 13th-ranked Rockhurst (17-10) on Saturday.
