HICKORY, N.C. --- Seventh-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne University remained undefeated with a 21-11 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action from Moretz Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Bears (4-0, 2-0 SAC) used a 10-goal surge in the second quarter to build a 16-4 halftime lead over the Pioneers (4-2, 1-2 SAC), who were able to outscore the Bears 7-5 in the second half including a six-goal fourth quarter.
Toron Eccleston led the Bears with four goals, Myles Moffat had three goals and an assist and Eric Dickinson had two goals and two assists for Lenoir-Rhyne, which received goals from 13 different players in the victory.
Nate Raymond and Kale Lawrence scored three goals apiece for the Pioneers, with a goal and two assists from Tristan Kirkham and a goal and an assist by Andy Michalski. Lorenz Brown, Sean Dunn and Josh Pickford each scored a goal for the Pioneers, with Jordan Daniel adding an assist. Tusculum was outshot 50-38 by Lenoir-Rhyne in the match and lost the faceoff battle by a 22-14 margin.
The Bears opened the scoring on a goal by Moffat with 12:22 left in the first quarter, and extended the lead to 2-0 on a goal from Mitchell Linklater just nine seconds later. Tusculum got on the board on a goal from Dunn with 10:42 left in the first quarter, but the Bears scored the next three to go up 5-1 on a Moffat goal with 8:17 remaining in the period. Raymond's first of the day cut the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 5-2 with 4:21 to go in the quarter, but Dickinson scored 22 seconds later as the Bears led 6-2 after one.
A goal 11 seconds into the second quarter by Nate Ashley kickstarted a four-goal run by the Bears, with Linklater scoring 13 seconds after Dickinson to give the Bears a 10-2 lead with 8:51 left in the half. Lawrence stopped the run with a goal 11 seconds after Linklater, but three more in a row from Lenoir-Rhyne left the Bears ahead 13-3 with 4:52 to go in the half. Kirkham scored with 2:36 remaining to make it a 13-4 game, but a goal by Liam McGrath with 1:49 left and two goals in the final 15 seconds sent the Bears to intermission with a 16-4 advantage.
The third quarter was relatively quiet, with the Bears going up 18-4 on goals from Colby Lensing with 10:45 left in the quarter and a man-up goal from Tommy Aguilar with 9:14 remaining. Tusculum's lone goal of the third quarter came from Lawrence with 1:41 to go and sent the teams to the fourth quarter with the Bears on top 18-5.
Tusculum trailed 19-5 after a goal from Kyle Hatcher with 13:38 left, but Lawrence and Pickford scored two minutes apart to trim the deficit to 19-7. A goal by David Bell with 9:20 left was answered by Raymond off the faceoff just nine seconds later, and Lenoir-Rhyne closed its scoring as Reese Remeika found the net with 4:47 remaining. The Pioneers did not quit, scoring three times in the final two minutes on tallies from Raymond, Brown and Michalski to set the final margin.
Michalski led the Pioneers with nine ground balls and battled back to finish the match with a 14 to 11 advantage on faceoffs. Connor Coleman had five ground balls and three caused turnovers for the Pioneers, while Nash Johnson had three ground balls. For the Bears, faceoff man Zach Bodeau won 13-of-16 at the dot and had 10 ground balls, with four ground balls apiece from Aaron Miechiels and Lensing.
The Bears went 2-for-3 with the extra man, while the Pioneers had a man-up goal from Brown in three chances. Tusculum went 14-for-20 on clears while Lenoir-Rhyne was 16-for-17 on clears, including 9-for-9 in the second half. Tusculum was charged with 18 turnovers as a team, with 13 turnovers to Lenoir-Rhyne, and the Bears had a 42-28 edge in ground balls.
Ross Geiger was credited with 14 saves in goal for the Pioneers, while Noah Johnson had 10 saves in 38 minutes and CJ Impagliazzo made four stops in 22 minutes for the Bears.
Tusculum will return to the road to face another nationally-ranked opponent on Saturday, March 20 when the Pioneers visit perennial national power Limestone for a noon start. The Saints (4-2, 3-2 SAC) were ranked 16th in Division II by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association prior to a 23-2 win over Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.
