GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University nearly pulled off a fourth-quarter rally against 20th-ranked Catawba College, but the Indians held on for a 14-12 victory over the Pioneers in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
The Pioneers (2-3, 0-1 SAC) trailed by as many as five goals in the first half and were down 13-9 with just over 10 minutes remaining, but cut the deficit to 13-12 on a goal from Ben Hobday with 4:03 remaining. However, the Indians (5-0, 1-0 SAC) got a goal from Andrew Crumpacker with 2:35 left for insurance.
Hobday finished with four goals for the Pioneers, who received three goals and an assist from Tysen Fontenla and two goals and two assists from Ben Royer. Jayden Thomas had two goals and Preston Stewart scored once for Tusculum, while Luke Bowen had a game-high three assists.
Tanner Stout led Catawba with three goals and two assists, with three goals from Frank Cetrone and two goals and an assist from Crumpacker. Garrett Simi and Devin Trzeciak each scored twice for the Indians, with one goal each from Peyton Turner and Hunter Clarke.
Catawba outshot Tusculum 46-38, while the Pioneers had a 34-30 edge in ground balls. Both teams were 1-for-3 with the extra man, and the Pioneers went 24-for-28 on clears to 17-for-23 for the Indians. Catawba finished with 19 turnovers to 17 for Tusculum, and the Indians won 16 of the 28 faceoffs in the match.
Both teams were scoreless for the first five minutes until Thomas broke through for the Pioneers with 9:52 left in the first quarter. The goal triggered a surge of nine goals between the two teams, with two goals from Cetrone giving Catawba a 6-3 lead after one quarter.
The Indians went up 8-3 on a goal from Trzeciak with 11:24 left in the second quarter, but goals from Royer, Stewart and Hobday in the final six minutes helped Tusculum pull within 9-6 at halftime.
Goals from Royer and Hobday in a span of 47 seconds in the third quarter cut the Catawba lead to 10-8, but the Indians went up 12-8 as Simi and Cetrone scored in the final seven minutes of the period.
In the fourth, Catawba led 13-9 on a goal from Stout with 12:25 to go, but Thomas cut the margin to three with 10:11 remaining. Fontenla made it a two-goal game with 6:57 left and Hobday brought the Pioneers within 13-12 with 4:03 to go. Tusculum won the faceoff and set up on offense, but a failed pass gave the Indians the ball back and Crumpacker scored with 2:35 to go. Tusculum would have one more possession but could not score and Catawba ran out the final minute.
Ezequel Ceant won 11 faceoffs and led the Pioneers with 10 ground balls, with four ground balls for Fontenla and three ground balls along with two caused turnovers by Aiden Paczek. For Catawba, Cael Petroff won 16 faceoffs and had a team-high six ground balls for the Indians.
Brenden Pecora finished with 15 saves in goal for the Pioneers, while Brady Gauntner had 13 saves for the Indians including six in the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers will travel to Lees-McRae for a non-conference match on Wednesday, March 5 at 1 p.m. The Bobcats defeated Davis & Elkins 23-4 on Saturday to improve to 2-3 overall.
