BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Eleven different players scored goals for Tusculum University while the Pioneer defense held Lees-McRae College to one second-half goal in a 17-6 victory Saturday afternoon in non-conference men's lacrosse action at Tate Field.
The Pioneers (4-0) have won their first four games of the season for the first time in program history, and did so by outshooting the Bobcats (0-4) by a 50-29 margin. Tusculum, which entered the day leading Division II in faceoff winning percentage at 79.4 percent, won 18-of-25 (72 percent) against Lees-McRae including a 16-for-18 showing from Andy Michalski, who also had a goal and an assist on offense and collected a game-high 10 ground balls.
Tristan Kirkham was the lone Pioneer to score three goals in the match, with Kale Lawrence and Nate Raymond each contributing two goals and an assist. Nash Johnson and Lorenz Brown each finished with two goals, while Jordan Daniel had a goal and two assists. Sean Dunn, Josh Pickford, TJ Caldwell and Tanner Deck also scored for the Pioneers, with Braden Elam assisting on three goals.
Craig Barr scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Bobcats, with a goal and an assist apiece from Tyler Flannelly and Tyler Finley. J.P. Galloway and Mike Moore also scored for Lees-McRae, which went just over 30 minutes from late in the second quarter to late in the fourth quarter without a goal.
Tusculum took advantage of undisciplined play by Lees-McRae, scoring four man-up goals on nine opportunities while killing off both of the Bobcats' man-up situations. Tusculum finished with 16 clears in 20 attempts and had a 40-27 advantage in ground balls. The Pioneers did not turn the ball over in the third quarter, during which time they outscored the Bobcats 5-0 to turn a 9-5 halftime lead into a 14-5 advantage.
Tusculum jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first four minutes of the match on goals from Kirkham and Lawrence, before Lees-McRae got a goal from Finley to pull within 2-1 with 8:35 left in the opening quarter. The Pioneers quickly went back up 3-1 on a man-up goal from Kirkham just 35 seconds after Finley's goal, and took a 4-1 lead as Brown found the net with 5:26 to play in the period.
The Bobcats trimmed the margin to 4-2 on a goal by Galloway early in the second quarter, but the Pioneers netted three in a row from Brown, Johnson and Raymond to go up 7-2 with 8:05 to play in the half. A goal by Lees-McRae's Flannelly was answered off the faceoff by Michalski just nine seconds later as the Pioneers led 8-3 with 5:35 left in the half. Two goals in 15 seconds by the Bobcats' Moore and Barr sliced the Pioneer lead to 8-5 with 3:42 left, but Raymond scored his second of the quarter with 1:50 to go as Tusculum led 9-5 at intermission.
The Pioneers pulled away in the third quarter, going up 10-5 on a goal by Kirkham in the first minute of the period before adding goals from Dunn, Deck, Johnson and Pickford to carry a 14-5 lead into the fourth. Elam assisted on three of the goals in the third quarter, during which Tusculum outshot Lees-McRae 16-5.
In the fourth quarter, Lawrence scored the Pioneers' third man-up goal of the match with 9:05 left, and Daniel added a fourth extra-man tally with 5:51 remaining to extend the Tusculum lead to 16-5. Lees-McRae ended its scoring drought of 30 minutes on a goal by Barr with 3:36 remaining, before Caldwell got his first career goal with 2:12 remaining to close the scoring.
Brown had four ground balls for the Pioneers, with three apiece from Daniel, Dawson Lovejoy, Deck and Shawn Smith. For the Bobcats, Flannelly had four caused turnovers and five ground balls, with three ground balls for Ben Davidson and Joe Pickens.
Ross Geiger started in goal for the Pioneers and made seven saves in the first three quarters, before yielding to Nick Adams who had one save in nine minutes, followed by Smith with three saves in six minutes. Antonio Cruz went the distance for the Bobcats and was called upon to make 21 saves in the defeat.
Following four straight road wins to open the season, the Pioneers will play their home opener as they welcome Newberry to Pioneer Field on Saturday, March 6 for a 3 p.m. match.
