YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. --- Five different players scored goals for Young Harris College as the fourth-ranked Mountain Lions defeated Tusculum University 5-0 in non-conference men's soccer action Wednesday night.
Alex Gschwend, Ali Koller and Dan Creese scored in the first half, and Hayden Tucker and Sondre Olsen in the second half for the Mountain Lions (2-0-0), who received six saves in goal from Alex Iglesias in the shutout of the Pioneers (0-2-0).
The Mountain Lions opened the scoring at 4:55 of the first half as Seba Andreassen collected a ball on the right side of the box and dropped a pass to Gschwend, who beat Pioneer keeper Sam Gilbert. At 9:34, a corner from Young Harris' Dani Fischer was served to the far post where Koller headed home the goal for a 2-0 Mountain Lion lead.
Tusculum's first shot came on a free kick by Fabian Proesch in the 13th minute, which took a high bounce on the turf and had to be deflected over the crossbar by Iglesias. Proesch had another free kick attempt in the 19th minute that Iglesias bobbled on a short hop before the ball was played over the end line.
Gilbert was tested three times in the span of a minute, stopping Christian Kirchhoff on a dive in the 33rd minute and denying Kirchhoff and Tucker in rapid succession in the 34th minute. However, Creese would collect a loose ball near the top of the box at 34:19 and give the Mountain Lions a 3-0 lead.
In the 36th minute, Gilbert would be sent off with a straight red card following a clear path foul nearly 35 yards off his line. Alejandro Quiriti came on for the Pioneers and made one save the remainder of the half as Young Harris carried a 3-0 advantage into intermission.
Tusculum nearly got on the board in the opening seconds of the second half as a turnover allowed Henrique Devens to go one-on-one with Iglesias, but the keeper came off his line and smothered the shot 15 yards out to keep the Pioneers scoreless.
Quiriti made a strong save on a header attempt by Andreassen in the 70th minute and another stop on Tucker in the 74th minute, but Tucker scored on the rebound to extend the Young Harris lead to 4-0 with 16:18 to go.
The Pioneers' final scoring chance came in the 85th minute as Iglesias punched away a shot by Sokho De Souza following a corner kick. Young Harris closed the scoring with 21 seconds left as Creese was taken down in the box and Olsen stepped up to beat Quiriti to the short side on the penalty.
Proesch led the Pioneers with four shot attempts, including three on goal, while Devens put both of his shots on target. Kirchhoff had a team-high four shots for the Mountain Lions, with three by Tucker as a total of nine different Young Harris players accounted for their 13 shots on goal.
Gilbert finished with three saves for the Pioneers before being sent off, with Quiriti following with five stops. Iglesias divided his six saves between the two halves, as Young Harris outshot Tusculum 10-4 in the first half and 9-6 in the second.
The Mountain Lions held an 8-5 edge in corner kicks and were whistled for 19 fouls to 15 by Tusculum.
The Pioneers will return to action next Wednesday, Sept. 18 on the road with a 4:30 p.m. match at King against the Tornado.