GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tia Daniel set the Tusculum University single-season record for points and freshman goalkeeper Emily White made 16 saves in her first career start as the Pioneers defeated UVA Wise 14-9 in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Daniel posted her third nine-point game in the last four contests with seven goals and two assists, and broke the program single-season record of 78 points set by Madison Malone in 2017. Daniel has 54 goals and 26 assists for a SAC-leading 80 points for the Pioneers this season, and extended her streak of consecutive games with a goal to 38.
Lucy Brewer and Abby Lockwood each scored two goals for the Pioneers (6-8, 3-5 SAC), with a goal apiece from Emma Miller, Kamryn McNeil and Mackenzie Sherrod. Tusculum was outshot 38-25 by UVA Wise but scored on 14 of their 20 shots on goal in the match, and erased a pair of multi-goal deficits in the victory. The win by the Pioneers was their first over the Cavaliers since Feb. 23, 2016 and snapped a five-game losing streak in the series by Tusculum.
With her seven goals, Daniel moved into second place on the Tusculum career goal list with 145, trailing only Juliette Cusano who scored 163 goals from 2017-21. Daniel is six points shy of becoming the second player in program history with 200 career points, joining only Malone who had 241 points from 2015-18.
White's 16 saves are tied for the third-most in a single game in program history and matched her season total spanning 270 minutes entering the game. She made 11 of her 16 saves in the first half and kept the Cavaliers off the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.
Abby Stoffelen led the Cavaliers (9-6, 5-4 SAC) with two goals and an assist, with two goals from Caitlyn Schultz and a goal and an assist by Grace Golatt. UVA Wise had a 27-15 advantage in ground balls and recorded 17 clears in 21 attempts, but hit the goalpost six times with shots and had two goals waved off following stick checks.
UVA Wise went up 2-0 after seven minutes on goals from Stoffelen and Anna Claire Watt, before the Pioneers got on the board as McNeil scored with 4:21 left in the opening quarter. Schultz would give the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead with 3:49 to play, but goals from Daniel and Miller in the final 2 1/2 minutes would knot the game at 3-3 after a quarter.
UVA Wise took a 5-3 lead in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second quarter on goals from Mallory Trimble and Allen in a span of 23 seconds. Lockwood's first goal of the afternoon would bring the Pioneers with 5-4 with 11:20 left in the half, but UVA Wise went up 7-4 with 5:45 remaining as Logen Davis and Schultz scored back-to-back. Daniel would net the final two goals of the half for the Pioneers as Tusculum trailed 7-6 at intermission.
Lockwood needed just 1:15 of the third quarter to tie the score at 7-7, and Brewer put the Pioneers up for good with 12:17 left in the period. The fourth goal of the game from Daniel gave Tusculum a 9-7 lead with 9:46 left, before Golatt broke the Wise scoring drought at more than 16 minutes with 4:39 to play. A goal from Daniel with 2:51 remaining was answered by Stoffelen with 1:36 to go as the Pioneers held a 10-9 lead entering the fourth.
The final quarter saw each team take just six shots apiece, but the Pioneers scored on four of theirs while the Cavaliers were kept scoreless. Daniel pushed Tusculum ahead 11-9 with 9:41 left, followed 70 seconds later by a goal from Brewer for a 12-9 Pioneer advantage. Daniel would set the single-season point record on her goal with 7:23 to play, then assisted to Sherrod as she fired into an unguarded net with 28 seconds remaining to set the final.
Brewer led the Pioneers with seven draw controls and Daniel had four for the Pioneers, while Brewer had a pair of caused turnovers. Chloe Michalski led Tusculum with three ground balls in the match and had two draw controls. For UVA Wise, Schultz had a team-high five ground balls with Kameryn Darrington collecting three draw controls along with three caused turnovers.
Tusculum went 4-for-7 on free-position shots as a team while UVA Wise was 2-for-5 and scoreless in the second half. The Pioneers had a slim 14-13 edge in draw controls and turned the ball over 25 times to 20 by the Cavaliers.
White's 16 saves were three shy of the single-game record of 19 set by Brooke Wagner against Lincoln Memorial on April 11, 2018. Wagner also has the second-most saves in a game with 17 against Chowan on Feb. 28, 2015, while White joins Kate Pipkin (Apr. 21, 2018 at Catawba) and Taylor Floyd (Apr. 16, 2022 at Catawba) in a tie for third place.
Olivia Toomer played the first half in goal for the Cavaliers and finished with two saves, while Jordan Edwards played the second half and made four stops.
Tusculum will celebrate Senior Day when the Pioneers host Newberry on Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Field. The Wolves entered action on Wednesday in second place in the SAC at 6-1 and winners of four in a row, with a 9-5 overall record.
