GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Two games in three days will bring the 2022 regular season to a close for the Tusculum University women's lacrosse team, as the Pioneers will visit UVA Wise on Thursday, April 21 at 3 p.m. and host 21st-ranked Wingate University on Saturday, April 23 at noon. The UVA Wise game was originally scheduled for March 30, but was moved to this week.

The Pioneers (4-10, 1-7 South Atlantic Conference) dropped a pair of matches last week, falling 19-8 at Lincoln Memorial last Wednesday and 19-12 at Catawba last Saturday. Tusculum will attempt to snap a four-game road losing streak, with their last win on the road a 19-6 victory at Lees-McRae on Feb. 26.

PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Junior attack Tia Tuininga became the seventh player in program history to reach 100 career points with five goals and an assist at Catawba. Tuininga, who has scored a goal in 26 of her 27 career games and 22 in a row, enters the week sixth in program history with 85 goals and seventh with 104 points. Tuininga's next goal will give her the third 50-goal season in program history, trailing Juliette Cusano (61 in 2019) and Kelsey Crow (54 in 2015). She ranks eighth in the SAC in goals with 49 and seventh in points with 64, and has a team-high 16 caused turnovers.

Sophomore attack Lucy Brewer is second on the team with 27 goals and has a team-high 49 draw controls which ranks 11th in the SAC. Brewer has eight multi-goal games this season and tied her season high with six draw controls against Catawba. Junior midfielder Kylie Marek did not play against Catawba but has a streak of eight straight games with a goal, and her 34 points (26 goals, eight assists) and 46 draw controls are both second on the team.

Senior midfielder Emily Youngblood has scored a career-high 18 goals and is fourth on the team with 29 draw controls, and junior Kamryn McNeil has moved from defense to offense and contributed 13 goals, including six in the last three games. Senior midfielder Jessica Spiegel has nine goals and five assists, with goals in two of the last three games.

Senior defender Harley Smith leads the team with 31 ground balls and is second on the team to Tuininga with 14 caused turnovers. Sophomore Morgan Correia has 25 ground balls to tie for second on the team along with seven caused turnovers, and graduate Bethany Thomas had added 11 ground balls and eight caused turnovers. Junior Leighann Yudin has 12 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.

Senior Taylor Floyd is fifth in the SAC with 114 saves and 12th in the conference in goals against average at 14.40. She enters the week 19 saves shy of tying the program single-season record of 133 saves set by Kate Pipkin in 2019, and is coming off a career-high 16 saves against Catawba on Saturday, tied for the third-most in a game in school history.

The Pioneers are eighth in the SAC in goals per game at 11.79 and ranked 10th in goals against average at 14.14. The Pioneers are second in the league in shooting accuracy (82 percent), and have reached double figures in goals seven times in 14 games.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
UVA Wise (5-9, 2-6 SAC) dropped a 27-4 decision to top-ranked Queens on Saturday, after beating Newberry 12-10 last Wednesday at home. The Cavaliers have alternated wins and losses in their last five games, following a six-game losing streak at midseason.

Eight players have scored in double figures for the Cavaliers, led by Katie Allen with 30 goals. Sydney Trask has added 22 goals and Abby Stoffelen has contributed 20 goals. Mallory Trimble, who has scored 18 goals, leads the Cavaliers with 40 draw controls and has added 36 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers. Grace Golatt is second on the team with 36 draw controls and has 19 goals.

On defense, Erin Smith is third in the SAC with 57 ground balls and fourth in the conference with 35 caused turnovers. Kameryn Darrington has 34 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers, and Paige Volpone has 16 ground balls to go along with 19 caused turnovers.

Jordan Edwards has played every second in goal for the Cavaliers and ranks fourth in the SAC with 123 saves and 10th in goals against average at 13.50. Edwards had 14 saves in the loss to Queens to tie her season high set against Flagler on March 17.

The Cavaliers have won four straight meetings over the Pioneers and lead the all-time series by a 4-2 margin. The Cavaliers are 1-1 at home against the Pioneers, winning 15-10 in the last meeting in 2018. The last two matchups have been played at Pioneer Field, with UVA Wise winning 19-8 in 2019 and 13-7 last season.

Wingate (13-2, 8-1 SAC) enters Saturday's match ranked 21st in Division II and owners of a seven-game winning streak. Wingate's only two losses were a 19-13 setback at Florida Southern, currently ranked 11th, on March 9 and a 19-12 loss to current number-one Queens on March 16. The Bulldogs have allowed double figures in goals just twice during their seven-game win streak, with five wins by more than 10 goals.

Junior Leah Knowles leads the Bulldogs with 58 goals and 20 assists for 78 points, which ranks her fifth in the SAC in both goals and points. Knowles is sixth in the conference with 71 draw controls, second in caused turnovers with 38 and eighth in ground balls with 39. Seniors Becca Ruiz and Bella Pellet are tied for second on the team with 36 goals, with Ruiz collecting 67 draw controls.

Among the 11 different Bulldogs who have scored 10 or more goals are junior Abby Burke, who has 33 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers to go along with 12 goals, and a quartet of freshmen in Kaleigh Wilgeroth (14 goals), Avery Scherer (13 goals) and Nelida Watson and Claire Fuchs (12 goals each). On defense, junior Emily Phipps has 30 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers, with freshman Emma Pike at 15 ground balls and freshman Haley McCourt with 14.

Junior Megan Biase has started 14 games in goal for the Bulldogs and is third in the conference in goals against average at 9.50 and sixth in save percentage at .458. Biase has given up more than five goals in a game just once in the last six contests and has reached double figures in saves four times this season, including 11 in a 15-3 win over Mount Olive on April 15.

Tusculum beat Wingate 16-11 in the first-ever meeting between the teams in 2015, but the Bulldogs have won the last six matchups. Wingate will be making its first trip to Tusculum since the 2018 season, when the Bulldogs beat the Pioneers 17-14.

FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live stats are available for all home Tusculum University women's lacrosse matches. Links to stats and video for home and away matches are posted at tusculumpioneers.com.