NEWBERRY, S.C. --- Juliette Cusano scored the winning goal with 14 seconds left as Tusculum University rallied with three goals in the final 90 seconds to beat Newberry College 12-11 in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Setzler Field.
Emily Youngblood scored four first-half goals and Tia Tuininga scored three of her four goals in the second half, including the tying goal with 57 seconds remaining, as the Pioneers (3-3, 1-0 SAC) saw a 7-3 halftime lead slip away as the Wolves (3-5, 0-2 SAC) used a 6-0 run to take a 10-8 lead with 5:21 remaining.
Newberry went up 11-9 on a goal by Marissa Plumer with exactly two minutes remaining, but never possessed the ball again as the Pioneers won the final four draws of the match. Plumer finished with four goals for the Wolves, with Chloe Wood adding three goals and two assists. Newberry was just 2-for-10 on free-position shots as Tusculum goalkeeper Caroline Monroe finished with 14 saves in her first career start.
Cusano finished with three goals to increase her career total to 138 goals, one shy of the program record of 139 goals set by Savannah Elliott from 2015-18. Cusano finished with a team-high seven draw controls, including the draws immediately before Tuininga's tying goal and Cusano's own go-ahead goal. Kylie Marek also scored for the Pioneers, who were outshot by the Wolves by a 28-26 margin.
A goal by Tuininga 32 seconds into the first half was followed by two goals from Youngblood as Tusculum led 3-0 after 7 1/2 minutes. Plumer got the Wolves on the board with 18:15 left in the first half, and the teams exchanged goals for the next 10 minutes before Youngblood scored with six seconds left to send Tusculum to halftime with a 7-3 lead.
The Pioneers led 8-4 after a goal from Tuininga with 26:13 left, but Tusculum would not score again for more than 23 minutes as the Wolves rattled off six straight goals. A goal from Keegan Hanson with 10:21 left tied the game at 8-8, and Wood scored twice in two minutes as the Wolves held a 10-8 lead with 5:21 remaining. Cusano cut the deficit to 10-9 with 3:56 remaining, before Plumer restored Newberry's two-goal lead and set up Tusculum's big finish.
Youngblood had five draw controls and three ground balls for the Pioneers, while on defense Leighann Yudin and Linden Perkins each had a pair of caused turnovers. For Newberry, Plumer and Wood had four draw controls each, with Plumer leading the way with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers. Wood and Kylee Kanealey had four ground balls apiece as Newberry had a 31-23 ground ball advantage over Tusculum.
Monroe made seven saves in each half for the Pioneers, while Newberry received one save from Nicole Harker in the first 19 minutes and eight saves from Casey McCabe over the final 41 minutes of play.
The Pioneers will return to action on Saturday, March 14 at Queens, for a 1 p.m. matchup with the nationally-ranked Royals.
