BANNER ELK, N.C. --- The top-ranked Lees-McRae College men's soccer team scored three second-half goals to rally past Tusculum College for a 4-1 victory in a clash of Southeast Region titans on Saturday night.

Lees-McRae (13-0-1) edged the Pioneers (8-4-1) 12-11 in shots on the evening, including a narrow 5-4 margin in the first half. 2007 All-American forward Berin Boracic paced the Bobcats with a pair of late goals, adding an early assist to lead Lees-McRae to its 13th win of the season.

Luke Perry and Richard Guffens each added a goal and an assist for the Bobcats, while Grant Elder chipped in a helper of his own. Bobcat keeper Sean Paradise also recorded six saves in the match for Lees-McRae. Tusculum forward Marc Joseph found the back of the net for the 10th time this season in the match, while senior midfielder Anteneh Lemma added an assist on Joseph's second half equalizer.

Neither team controlled the run of play for extended periods in the match, with the difference on the scoreboard coming as a result of extraordinary skill and well-timed aggression by the Lees-McRae attack.

Lees-McRae scored the match's first goal late in the first half, taking a 1-0 lead into the interval on Perry's 41st minute strike from 30 yards distance after a Guffens layoff. The Bobcats held the one-goal advantage until the early moments of the 65th minute when Joseph took advantage of a brilliant layoff by Lemma, and delivered a wonderful strike from 20 yards distance to pull the Pioneers back on terms at 1-1.

The Bobcats reclaimed the lead scant minutes later when Boracic delivered a driven corner kick into the Tusculum area midway through the 70th minute, allowing Guffens to strike a brilliant header into the back of the net from eight yards out, giving Lees-McRae a 2-1 advantage.

Boracic extended the lead to 3-1 less than a minute later, taking possession of a well-struck long ball behind the back line before delivering a perfectly placed strike into the bottom corner for his first goal of the match. The senior forward later stretched the advantage to 4-1 with his second goal of the match midway through the 81st minute, slotting a strike past the TC keeper after a wonderful through ball by Elder.

Tusculum returns to the pitch on Wednesday when the Pioneers host archrival Carson-Newman College at Pioneer Field to resume their South Atlantic Conference schedule. The match is slated to kick off at 5 p.m. following senior day ceremonies.

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