BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Chloe Michalski scored a career-high four goals and Tia Daniel tied her career high with seven goals as Tusculum University defeated Lees-McRae College 19-6 in non-conference women's lacrosse action Thursday afternoon at Tate Field.
Daniel added two assists for nine points as the Pioneers (5-7) led from the opening two minutes and finished with a 48-20 shot advantage over the Bobcats (2-7). Lucy Brewer, Mackenzie Sherrod and Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg each scored two goals for the Pioneers, with a goal and an assist apiece from Kamryn McNeil and Abby Lockwood.
Michalski, whose previous career high for goals in a game was two against North Greenville on Feb. 22, scored early in the first, third and fourth quarters for the Pioneers. Daniel's seven goals equaled her career high set three previous times, most recently against Anderson on March 15, while her nine points matched her season best set March 12 at Coker and equaled this past Saturday against Catawba.
Shannon Korovich led the Bobcats with two goals and an assist, but Lees-McRae finished with 19 turnovers as a team while Tusculum had just six turnovers in the match. The Pioneers were 15-for-16 on clears and forced the Bobcats into a dismal 7-for-14 effort on clear attempts.
Tusculum raced to a 3-1 lead midway through the first quarter on two goals in the first three minutes from Michalski and a goal from Daniel. Lees-McRae got on the board with 5:22 left in the first on a goal from Korovich, but Carolin-Vandenberg responded 16 seconds later for a 4-1 Pioneer advantage. The Bobcats would net two goals in 84 seconds from Hailey Smith and Korovich to pull within 4-3 with 3:19 left, but Brewer responded 35 seconds after Korovich's second goal to push Tusculum ahead 5-3. Lockwood would put the Pioneers up 6-3 after one quarter as she scored with 29 seconds to play in the period.
Daniel scored three goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter and added a fourth with 5:58 left to help the Pioneers stretch their lead to 11-5. Sherrod would score with the Pioneers a player down with 1:54 left in the half as Tusculum took a 12-5 lead into intermission.
The Pioneers would grab a 15-5 lead early in the third quarter on goals from Michalski, Brewer and Daniel. A goal from Haley Donovan would bring the Bobcats back within 15-6 with 5:57 to go. Sherrod would put the Pioneers back up 16-6 with her second of the afternoon with 3:15 remaining, and Tusculum would carry the 10-goal lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Michalski would tally her fourth of the game just under two minutes into the period, with goals from Daniel and Carolin-Vandenberg in the final seven minutes of action. Meanwhile, the Pioneer defense would limit the Bobcats to just one shot attempt in the final quarter.
Brewer led the Pioneers with eight draw controls in the match with three from Daniel and two from Carolin-Vandenberg. Donovan paced the Bobcats with 10 draw controls, as Lees-McRae had a slim 15-14 edge in draws for the afternoon.
On defense, Sophia Sesi had a career-high five caused turnovers and came up with seven ground balls, also a career high and the most for a Tusculum field player since Madison Malone had seven ground balls against Converse on Feb. 20, 2016. McNeil had four ground balls for Tusculum, while Celeste Raya added three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls in the win.
In goal, Kari Ham played the first three quarters for the Pioneers and made eight saves, with Emily White not facing a shot on goal in the fourth. Aviva Beringhause played the entire match in goal for the Bobcats and had 16 saves on 35 shots on goal.
Tusculum will travel to Lenoir-Rhyne to face the Bears on Saturday at 1 p.m. Lenoir-Rhyne is 5-8 overall and 4-2 in the South Atlantic Conference, which includes an 18-8 setback to Mount Olive in a non-conference contest on Wednesday.
