GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Garrett Simi scored the winning goal with 4:21 remaining as Catawba College rallied for a 10-9 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action from Pioneer Field on Saturday.
Jackson Braswell led the Indians (2-8, 2-4 SAC) with three goals and an assist, while Tristan Kirkham paced the Pioneers (4-8, 0-6 SAC) with five goals. Neither team led by more than one goal over the final 22 minutes in a match that had seven ties and four lead changes.
Jordan Daniel finished with three assists for the Pioneers to become the Tusculum career leader in assists with 77, breaking the old record of 75 set by Liam Macdonald from 2017-20. Daniel broke the record on a goal from Kirkham with 12:00 left that gave Tusculum its final lead of the game at 8-7.
Sean Dunn had two goals and two assists for the Pioneers, while Nate Raymond had a goal and an assist and Wesley Phillips added a goal. For Catawba, Jordan Dash and Keegan Maxwell each collected a goal and an assist in the victory.
Catawba outshot Tusculum 37-28 in the match, including 22-13 in the second half, while the Pioneers were just 11-for-23 on clear attempts. Both teams came up empty with the man advantage, with Tusculum going 0-for-2 and Catawba 0-for-1.
Catawba went up 1-0 after 1:12 on a goal from Hunter Clarke, but Tusculum came back with goals from Dunn and Phillips to go ahead 2-1 with 11:31 left in the opening quarter. Braswell knotted the game at 2-2 with 5:56 remaining, but Kirkham scored for a 3-2 Tusculum lead with 4:30 left in the quarter.
The Kirkham goal would be the last for the Pioneers in the next 27 minutes, as the Indians went up 4-3 after one quarter on goals from Caleb Richardson and Siri in the final four minutes. In the second quarter, the only goal came from Braswell with 11.7 seconds to play to give Catawba a 5-3 lead at halftime.
Kirkham would end the Tusculum drought with 7:34 left to pull the Pioneers within 5-4, and Dunn delivered the tying goal 49 seconds later. Braswell put Catawba back up 6-5 just 26 seconds after Dunn's goal, but Raymond and Kirkham would score in the final four minutes as Tusculum went ahead 7-6 entering the fourth.
Maxwell tied the game at 7-7 with 13:19 left, but Kirkham restored the Tusculum lead at 8-7 with 12:00 on the clock. The Indians would regain the lead at 9-8 as Dash and Bakari Neely scored 1:14 apart, only to see Kirkham score his fifth with 7:12 to play to tie the score for the final time at 9-9.
Simi gave the Indians the lead at 10-9 with 4:21 to play, and the Pioneers would not have an offensive set the rest of the game as the Pioneers had two failed clears followed by an offsides penalty that allowed the Indians to run out the clock.
Nolan Ross led the Tusculum defense with four caused turnovers and three ground balls, while Aaron Fabelo had three ground balls and went 10-for-23 on faceoffs for the Pioneers. For Catawba, Eli Horton had three ground balls and two caused turnovers, with Nick DiBitetto going 10-for-15 on faceoffs with six ground balls.
Riley Semmes finished with 11 saves for the Pioneers, while James Crighton had six saves for the Indians. Tusculum had 23 turnovers in the game, with 22 for Catawba, and the Indians had a 27-24 edge in ground balls.
Tusculum will visit Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday, April 8 at 4 p.m. The Bears, ranked fourth this week in the USILA Top 20, improved to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the SAC with a 19-6 win at Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.
