GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Two goals in a span of 29 seconds midway through the fourth quarter broke a tie and boosted Tusculum University to a 16-14 victory over North Greenville University in non-conference women's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Field.

Chloe Michalski gave the Pioneers the lead for good with 7:32 left and Lucy Brewer followed moments later as Tusculum went up 15-13. Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg added an insurance goal while Tusculum was two players short with 4:09 remaining as the Pioneers (2-2) recovered after letting a five-goal lead slip away in the second half.

Tia Daniel led Tusculum with four goals and three assists, while Brewer had three goals and two assists and Kamryn McNeil added three goals for the Pioneers, who had a slim 30-28 shot advantage over the Crusaders (0-3). Michalski and Natalie Dagley each scored twice for the Pioneers, with a goal and two assists from Abby Lockwood. Tusculum scored six of its 16 goals on free-position shots and had a narrow 17-16 edge in draw controls over North Greenville.

Emily Zambrano paced the Crusaders with six goals and an assist, with three goals and two assists from Dani O'Meara and two goals by Katie Keller. Kylie Keen and Ella Halpern also scored for the Crusaders, who outscored the Pioneers 5-1 in the third quarter after trailing 9-4 at halftime.

Tusculum scored the first three goals of the game on free-position shots, with Daniel scoring twice and McNeil once as the Pioneers led 3-0 with 7:06 left in the opening quarter. Two goals from Zambrano and one from O'Meara in a 2 1/2 minute stretch would level the score at 3-3 with 2:23 remaining, but a goal from Daniel with 13 seconds left gave the Pioneers a 4-3 lead after one quarter.

A goal by Brewer in the first 30 seconds of the second quarter was answered by Zambrano as Tusculum led 5-4 with 11:09 left in the half. The Pioneers would collect the final four goals of the period from Daniel, Dagley, McNeil and Lockwood, the latter just before time expired to give Tusculum a 9-4 advantage at intermission.

Tusculum led 10-5 with 11:49 left in the third quarter as Michalski responded to an early goal from Keller, but North Greenville began its rally with 7:08 left in the period after a rebound was inadvertently pushed into the Tusculum goal. Zambrano would follow with two more goals and Halpern would add a free-position tally with 16 seconds left to cut the Tusculum lead to 10-9 heading to the fourth.

The Pioneers pushed their lead to 12-9 with 12:47 to go on goals 25 seconds apart by Brewer and Dagley, but O'Meara answered 38 seconds later to bring the Crusaders back within 12-10. McNeil gave Tusculum a 13-10 lead with 11:15 to go, but three goals from the Crusaders in a two-minute span brought North Greenville into a 13-13 tie following Zambrano's sixth of the game with 8:27 remaining.

Tusculum went back up 15-13 with 7:03 to play on the back-to-back goals from Michalski and Brewer, but two yellow cards to the Pioneers would leave Tusculum two down on the field for more than a minute with 4:49 remaining. Carolin-Vandenberg would shock the Crusaders as she picked up a bounce pass from Brewer in front and flung a blind shot over her shoulder that skipped into the net with 4:09 to play, pushing Tusculum's lead to 16-13. O'Meara would score in the final 50 seconds to bring the Crusaders within two, but North Greeneville would not get another shot attempt.

Daniel and Jadyn Gleason had five draw controls apiece for the Pioneers, with four from McNeil. Daniel added a team-high three caused turnovers, while Haylee Cureton and Celeste Raya had two apiece. Cureton and Lockwood shared the team lead with three ground balls for the Pioneers. O'Meara led the Crusaders with six draw controls, two ground balls and three caused turnovers, with three ground balls apiece from Zambrano, Kaitlin O'Brien and Danielle LaPlume.

North Greenville finished the match 17-for-21 on clears, while Tusculum was 14-for-22. The Pioneers turned the ball over 21 times as a team, with 19 for the Crusaders. Tusculum also had a slight edge in ground balls by an 18-16 margin.

Tusculum goalkeeper Kari Ham finished with a season-high 10 saves for the Pioneers, while McKenna Kees had 11 stops for the Crusaders.

Tusculum will host Lees-McRae (0-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Pioneer Field.