GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Andre De Giorgi scored a pair of goals as 18th-ranked Tusculum College matched its best start in more than a decade by defeating Newberry College 3-0 in a South Atlantic Conference men's soccer match Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Field.

Tyler Linkous also scored for the Pioneers, while Isai Hernandez had a pair of assists for Tusculum (9-0-0, 5-0-0 SAC), which outshot Newberry (3-6-0, 1-4-0 SAC) by a 20-9 margin and received five saves from Jorge Alvarez for his fourth shutout in five conference matches. The Pioneers have outscored their league opponents 9-1 through five matches, and have not allowed a goal to a conference foe in their last 320 minutes, 37 seconds.

The nine straight wins to open the season is the best start for a Tusculum team since the 2004 squad, which finished 17-3-2 overall, won the SAC Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The best recorded start in program history is 10 consecutive victories, accomplished by the 1992 team that won the TVAC and NAIA District 24 titles.

Newberry had some early pressure on the Pioneer goal, but Tusculum came back and scored the opening goal at 11:36 as Fabian Proesch tapped a pass to Dallas Dunn, whose cross was headed home by Linkous for his second goal of the season and 1-0 Pioneer lead. Linkous nearly added a second goal less than a minute later, but fired wide of the Newberry net.

De Giorgi just misfired on a pair of chances in the 25th and 28th minutes, but delivered in the 32nd minute to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. A chip by Ivan Andubak was played quickly by Hernandez to a cutting De Georgi, who deposited his seventh goal of the season at 31:18 to double the Pioneer advantage.

Andreas Kvam, who came on as a substitute following De Giorgi's goal, had several opportunities to extend the Tusculum lead to 3-0 in the latter stages of the first half, but Newberry keeper Brad Dixon made a pair of excellent saves to keep the margin at two heading to halftime.

Tusculum continued to buzz early in the second half, but Dixon made saves on Linkous in the 53rd minute, Rocco Menna in the 56th minute, Kvam in the 58th minute, and Linkous again in the 59th minute. Newberry's best scoring chance came in the 67th minute, as Alvarez stopped Cameron Provan on a point-blank shot, then defender Guillermo Lazcano cleared the line on a rebound try by the Wolves' Claus Lehland.

With Newberry trying to get on the board in the closing minute, a clearing pass set up a two-on-one for Hernandez and De Giorgi. Hernandez chipped a pass over the falling defender, which allowed De Giorgi a clear path to the goal from 40 yards out. His chip shot went over Dixon and into the net with 23 seconds to play to set the final score of 3-0.

Both teams were called for 16 fouls and shown two yellow cards in the match, while Newberry had a 9-4 edge in corner kicks. Tusculum outshot Newberry 11-3 in the first half and 9-6 in the second half, with Dixon making six of his 10 saves after halftime.

Tusculum will play its final non-conference match of the season on Tuesday as Trevecca Nazarene visits Pioneer Field for a 6 p.m. contest.