GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- After five straight games against the top teams in the South Atlantic Conference, the Tusculum University men's lacrosse team will look to get back to the win column when the Pioneers host Coker on Saturday at Pioneer Field. Game time is slated for 4 p.m.
The Pioneers (7-5, 1-5 SAC) won their first seven games of the season, but dropped five in a row against teams that have been ranked in the USILA Division II poll at some point this season. Tusculum lost a pair of games last week, falling 18-10 at Anderson on Wednesday and 23-10 at Queens on Saturday.
The Pioneers enter the week tied for ninth place in the SAC standings with Lincoln Memorial, but Tusculum's next three games are against teams directly surrounding them in the league standings. Tusculum will finish the season with trips to Lincoln Memorial on April 13 and Catawba on April 16, followed by a home game with first-place Wingate on April 23.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Senior attack Nate Raymond has tied the Tusculum single-season record for both goals and points, equaling the marks of 44 goals and 59 points set by Keegan Bell in 2019. Raymond scored four goals in the loss to Queens on Saturday, giving him a goal in a school-record 22 consecutive games. Raymond is third in the SAC with his 44 goals and fifth in points with 59, while ranking eighth in Division II in goals per game at 3.67.
Junior midfielder Tristan Kirkham has scored 35 goals and nine assists for 44 points, and set the program single-season record for man-up goals with his eighth against Queens on Saturday. Kirkham's 35 goals are fourth-most in a season in school history, while his 44 points rank sixth on the Tusculum single-season list. Kirkham, who is eighth in the SAC in goals this season, is now tied for 10th in career goals for the Pioneers with 53.
Senior attack Kale Lawrence has 23 goals and grad midfielder Lorenz Brown is fourth on the team in both goals (22) and points (33). Lawrence is seventh in career goals with 72 and is ninth in career points with 94, while Brown is up to ninth in career goals at Tusculum with 60. Brown has at least one point in a program-record 28 straight games and has scored at least one goal in 21 straight contests. Brown also ranks second on the team with 33 ground balls and is fourth on the team with four man-up goals.
Freshman attack Wesley Phillips has 13 goals and a team-high 23 assists for 36 points, with senior midfielder Jordan Daniel contributing 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points. Phillips is sixth in the SAC in assists and second on the single-season assist list at Tusculum, while Daniel is third on the Pioneer single-season list and ranks second in program history with 50 career assists.
Senior midfielder Andy Michalski continues to build upon his single-season Tusculum records in ground balls (97) and faceoff wins (190), and he ranks second in the SAC in both categories. Michalski has won 50.8 percent of his faceoffs this season and is 12th in Division II in ground balls per game at 8.08.
Sophomore defender Nicholas Drennan has missed the last two games but continues to lead the Pioneer defense with 23 ground balls. Senior Fred Harbinson has added 20 ground balls, while senior Tyler Nunenmacher has collected 16 ground balls. Sophomore Nick May has a team-high seven caused turnovers along with nine ground balls.
Senior goalkeeper Ross Geiger leads the SAC with 163 saves and has a .503 save percentage for the Pioneers this season. Geiger is sixth in Division II in saves per game with 14.82 and has reached double figures in saves in seven straight games. Geiger is seven saves shy of tying Kevin Haggerty's program career record of 496 saves, and is 26 saves away from the single-season record of 189 saves set by Haggerty in 2016.
Tusculum leads all of Division II in man-up offense, converting on 56.8 percent of its extra man opportunities. The Pioneers are fifth in the SAC and 11th in Division II in scoring offense at 14.5 goals per game, and are seventh in scoring defense at 13.92 goals per game. Tusculum leads the SAC and is second in Division II in shooting percentage at 38.1 percent, and the Pioneers also lead the SAC in saves per game at 15.00 per contest.
SCOUTING THE COBRAS
Coker (2-10, 2-4 SAC) opened the season with nine straight losses before breaking through on March 26 with a 14-7 win over Lincoln Memorial. The Cobras, who added a second win last Saturday with a 13-11 victory at Mars Hill, have scored double figures in three of their last four games after failing to do so in their first eight games.
Leading the offense for the Cobras is freshman attack Justin Beighey, who has a team-high 21 goals including four with the man advantage. Sophomore attack Cal Gibson has a team-high 37 points with 16 goals and 21 assists (eighth in the SAC), while senior Henry Haskett has 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points. A pair of freshmen midfielders, Zyaire Marshall and Will Habel, have scored 11 goals apiece for the Cobras.
Sophomore Nathan Allan has been the primary faceoff man for the Cobras, winning 42.9 percent (102-for-238) with 81 ground balls which are third in the SAC. Allan is also third in the conference with 21 caused turnovers. Senior defender Ryan Bass has 11 caused turnovers and 15 ground balls to lead the Cobra defense.
Sophomore Ethan Hofert has started all 12 games in goal for Coker and has a 15.22 goals against average and a .472 save percentage. Hofert is third in the SAC with 153 saves with a season high of 18 saves against Newberry on March 16 and Queens on March 30.
Coker is last in the SAC in both scoring offense (7.33 goals per game) and scoring defense (15.79 goals per game). The Cobras are also last in the league in man-up percentage (15.2 percent, 12-for-79) and in clear percentage (71.6 percent), and also last in shooting percentage at 23.0 percent.
Tusculum and Coker have met nine times, including twice in the SAC Championship tournament. The Pioneers lead the all-time series 5-4, with three straight victories and five of the last six. The Pioneers are 1-3 at home against the Cobras, with last year's 10-9 win in the SAC Quarterfinals their first-ever victory at Pioneer Field. Five of the nine games have been decided by three goals or less, including back-to-back 11-10 overtime wins by Coker in 2015 and 2016.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live stats are available for all home Tusculum University men's lacrosse matches. Links to stats and video for home and away matches are posted at tusculumpioneers.com.
