GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tia Daniel and Lucy Brewer scored five goals apiece and Abby Lockwood dished out a career-best five assists as Tusculum University rolled to a 15-3 victory over Catawba College in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Saturday at Pioneer Field.
Daniel added four assists to match her season high with nine points as the Pioneers (4-7, 2-4 SAC) outshot the Indians by a 34-10 margin and held Catawba scoreless in both the second and fourth quarters. Tusculum went up 4-0 after 8 1/2 minutes and led 10-1 at halftime, then held Catawba scoreless for the final 17 1/2 minutes.
The five assists from Lockwood were the most in a game for a Pioneer since Bailey Lowery had seven against Newberry on March 30, 2019 and are tied for the seventh-most in a game in program history. Brewer's five goals marked the third time this season that she scored five times in a game, and extended her streak of consecutive games with a goal to 10.
Kamryn McNeil added two goals for the Pioneers while Lockwood, Natalie Dagley and Emma Miller each scored one goal apiece. For Catawba, Michaela Lantz, Caroline Cox and Mary Sorvillo had goals while Kylie Harris registered two assists.
Saturday's game was played under sunny skies but strong, gusty winds that led to a pregame area-wide power failure only 15 minutes before the opening draw. The game would start 25 minutes late once power was restored.
Tusculum needed just 44 seconds to take a 1-0 lead on a goal from Brewer, and stretched the lead to 4-0 with 6:20 remaining in the first quarter on goals from McNeil, Lockwood and Daniel. Cox broke the drought for Catawba with a goal with 4:06 left in the period, but Brewer would tally with 14 seconds to play for a 5-1 Tusculum lead after one.
The Pioneers scored all five goals in the second quarter to take a 10-1 lead at halftime, which included two goals and two assists from Daniel, two goals from Brewer and a goal from McNeil. Catawba held Tusculum to one third-quarter goal, which came from Brewer with 7:41 to play, but the Pioneers pulled away in the fourth as Miller and Dagley each scored a goal and Daniel scored two goals in the quarter.
In addition to her five goals and four assists, Daniel had three caused turnovers, three draw controls and two ground balls. Brewer added three ground balls and Jadyn Gleason and Chloe Michalski each had three draw controls for the Pioneers. Off the bench, Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg had four ground balls, two draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers.
Tusculum's defense had an excellent afternoon against Catawba, with Morgan Correia recording five ground balls and two caused turnovers, Celeste Raya causing three turnovers and picking up two ground balls, Haylee Cureton collecting two ground balls and Sophia Sesi earning a caused turnover.
Also off the Tusculum bench, Kira Spaulding had two ground balls and a caused turnover and Mackenzie Sherrod had a free position shot on goal in the fourth quarter that was stopped by Catawba keeper Evie Kauserud.
Tusculum was 20-for-24 on clear attempts and won 14 of the 22 draws in the match. The Pioneers had 28 ground balls to 16 for Catawba, while the Indians turned the ball over 25 times to 19 by the Pioneers.
The Pioneers split the goalkeeper duties against the Indians, with Kari Ham making four saves in the first half and Emily White facing just two shots on goal in the second half. For Catawba, Kauserud played all 60 minutes and had 14 saves in defeat.
Tusculum will travel to Lees-McRae on Thursday, April 6 for a rescheduled game with the Bobcats. The teams were originally slated to meet at Pioneer Field on Feb. 25, but the match was called off due to wet grounds. Lees-McRae lost 18-8 to Converse on Saturday to drop to 2-6 overall.
