BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Tusculum University raced to an 11-1 lead after one quarter and went on to a 19-6 victory over Lees-McRae College in non-conference women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Tate Field.
Tia Tuininga tied her career high with five goals and added three assists for a career-best eight points and Megann McKinney had a career-best six points on four goals and two assists for the Pioneers (2-2), who outshot the Bobcats (0-4) by a 31-12 margin and caused 16 of the Bobcats' 23 turnovers in the match.
Kamryn McNeil scored three goals for the Pioneers, Kylie Marek and Natalie Dagley scored twice, Lucy Brewer had a goal and two assists and Jessica Spiegel and Emily Youngblood each had a goal and an assist for Tusculum, which ran off 12 unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0.
Kalbie Grassett led Lees-McRae with four goals and Genesis Lutsky added two goals and an assist, but the Bobcats could not get the score under the 10-goal differential after Tusculum went up 11-1 at the end of the first period.
The eight points from Tuininga are tied for the sixth-most in a game in program history and are the most by a Pioneer since Juliette Cusano had 10 points against Coker on April 6, 2019. She also set career single-game highs with five ground balls and four caused turnovers. Tusculum's 16 caused turnovers are tied for the fourth-most by the team in school history, and are the most since 17 against UVA Wise on Feb. 22, 2017.
The 19 goals by the Pioneers against Lees-McRae came after an 18-8 win over Chowan in their previous game on Feb. 19, giving the Pioneers back-to-back games with at least 18 goals for the first time since having streaks of three and four in a row during the 2016 season.
Grassett opened the scoring with 11:37 left in the first quarter, but it was all Tusculum from there. Tuininga tied the match 24 seconds later and gave the Pioneers the lead 31 seconds after that. A goal from Spiegel nine seconds later made it 3-1 Tusculum, and the lead stood for three minutes until goals from Tuininga, Brewer and Marek in a span of just under 90 seconds stretched Tusculum's lead to 6-1 with 5:36 remaining in the quarter. McKinney then scored three in a row for a 10-1 lead, and Tuininga added her fourth of the quarter with one second left for an 11-1 Pioneer advantage.
The pace slowed a bit in the second quarter, as Dagley gave the Pioneers a 12-1 advantage before Grassett snapped the run with 9:26 left in the half. McNeil scored twice in the final seven minutes of the half and Youngblood added a free-position tally as the Pioneers went up 15-3 at intermission.
In the third quarter, Tusculum stretched its lead to 18-3 on goals from Tuininga, McKinney and Dagley, before Grassett got her fourth with 4:05 remaining in the period. Lutsky would score twice in the fourth quarter for the Bobcats, sandwiching the third of the game from McNeil with 6:03 left.
Marek led all players with eight draw controls, a career high and tied for the ninth-most in a game in school history, while Brewer added five draw controls for the Pioneers. Youngblood and Tuininga each had four caused turnovers and Marek and Harley Smith had two apiece, while Smith and Youngblood each had four ground balls. For Lees-McRae, Haley Donovan led with five draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls, and Grassett had four draw controls and two caused turnovers.
Taylor Floyd started in goal for the Pioneers and made four saves to earn the win. For the Bobcats, Emily Davidson started and made seven saves in the first half, followed by Mckenzie Mellen with two saves in the second half.
The Pioneers will open their South Atlantic Conference schedule on Saturday, March 5 at Pioneer Field against Mars Hill. The Lions are off to a 2-0 start, but have games with Charleston (W.Va.) on Sunday and Lees-McRae on Tuesday ahead of their visit to Tusculum on Saturday.
