GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Mars Hill University pulled away in the fourth quarter to claim a 15-10 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
George Yanssens finished with four goals and an assist and Brandon Woodward, Austin Stroud and Josh McCallion added three goals apiece for the Lions (3-6, 1-3 SAC), who let a five-goal first-half lead slip away before outscoring the Pioneers 6-2 over the final 16 1/2 minutes.
Clay Mendez led the Pioneers (1-10, 0-6 SAC) with three goals and an assist, with three goals from Chase Penner and a goal and four assists from Wesley Phillips. Blake Harrison had a goal and an assist and Ben Hobday and TJ Caldwell also scored for the Pioneers, who went 6-for-8 with the man advantage.
Mars Hill won 21 of the game's 28 faceoffs and had a 36-30 advantage in shots over Tusculum, which had 18 turnovers as a team including seven failed clearing attempts. The Lions were 2-for-6 with the extra man in the game, but had 23 turnovers.
The Lions jumped to a 3-0 lead after six minutes, but back-to-back man-up goals by Penner and Mendez brought the Pioneers within 3-2 with 5:55 left in the opening quarter. Stroud stretched the Mars Hill lead to 4-2 on a goal with 2:38 remaining in the period.
Mars Hill would end up taking a 7-2 lead on a goal from Woodward with 7:29 to go in the first half, only to see the Pioneers connect for three man-up goals in a span of 2:05 as Harrison, Mendez and Penner cut the Lions' lead to 7-6 at intermission.
Tusculum's fourth straight man-up goal came from Phillips just 52 seconds into the third quarter and tied the game at 7-7, but goals in a 25-second span from Woodward and Jake Lynch pushed the Lions ahead for good at 9-7 with 11:57 left in the third quarter. Hobday cut the deficit back to 9-8 with 7:11 to go, but a goal from McCallion sent the Lions to the fourth quarter with a 10-8 lead.
Mars Hill would net a pair of man-up goals in the fourth quarter, while the Pioneers would pull within 11-9 on a goal from Caldwell with 12:43 left and 13-10 on a Mendez tally with 7:49 to go. The Lions won all seven faceoffs in the fourth quarter while the Pioneers went 4-for-8 on clears in the final frame.
Nolan Ross led the Tusculum defense with three caused turnovers and six ground balls, with four ground balls from Drake Vance. AJ Howland was 18-for-25 on faceoffs for Mars Hill and had six ground balls, with four ground balls from Ben Clark.
Brenden Pecora had nine saves in goal for the Pioneers, while Steven Smith made 15 saves for the Lions.
Tusculum will travel to face Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, March 27 at noon. The Railsplitters fell 12-9 at home to Catawba on Saturday to drop to 3-8 overall and 0-5 in SAC play.
