FLORENCE, S.C. --- The Francis Marion University men's soccer team jumped out to a two-goal lead, but had to hold off a furious rally as the Patriots edged visiting Tusculum College 2-1 Wednesday at Hartzler Field on the FMU campus .

Francis Marion improves to 4-1 on the season, while Tusculum falls to 2-2 on the year.

The Patriots got on the board quickly eighth minutes into the contest when Sven Ricke shot from inside the box and was initially saved by TC keeper Ashley Elsey. But Benjamin Kwast gathered in the rebound and scored his second goal of the year for a 1-0 FMU lead.

Francis Marion added another goal at the 71:26 mark as Sven Ricke sent in a free kick that found the head of David Sheridan and scored from four yards away to make the score 2-0.

Tusculum answered 42 seconds later when Pablo Laguna hauled in a through ball pass from Tyler Linkous and scored from 13 yards out for his first-ever TC goal.

The Pioneers put together a furious attack and got their best chance to level the score in the 83rd minute when Guillermo Lazcano's header in the box clanged off the crossbar.

FMU keeper picked up the victory as he finished with two saves, while Elsey accounted for three stops in his 90 minutes of play.

Tusculum out-shot the Patriots by an 11-9 margin, including 8-4 in the second half. Roberto Pimentel posted three shots, including one on goal, while Laguna finished with two shots, both of which were on frame.

Linkous' assist was his third helper in the last two contests.

Tusculum returns home on Saturday to host Mars Hill University for a 1 p.m. South Atlantic Conference match. It will be the second contest of a doubleheader at Pioneer Field as the TC women will host Mars Hill at 10:30 a.m.

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