GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University used a 10-goal barrage in the second half to pick up a 14-7 victory over Shorter University in non-conference women's lacrosse Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Lucy Brewer finished with three goals and an assist, and both Abby Lockwood and Liberty Jones scored three goals for the Pioneers (1-0), who outshot the Hawks (0-2) by a 34-14 margin. Kylie Marek added a goal and two assists and Zuza Stasiak had a goal and an assist for Tusculum, which also received goals from Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg, Emma Miller and Cassidy Bourne in the victory.
Ansley Tucker had two goals and an assist for the Hawks, with two goals from Tori Wolf and one apiece from Maggie Wallace, Ariel Grimwade and Jazzelle Ware. Shorter had 27 turnovers in the game and went 14-for-23 on clears, while Tusculum turned the ball over 16 times and succeeded on 17-of-20 clear attempts.
Jones, making her collegiate debut, scored on all three of her shot attempts and had a team-high five draw controls for the Pioneers. On defense, Morgan Correia collected four ground balls and had three caused turnovers for the Pioneers, who had 13 caused turnovers as a team.
Tusculum scored the only two goals of the first quarter, with Jones opening the scoring with 10:12 left and Marek adding a goal with 4:07 remaining. A goal from Jones gave the Pioneers a 3-0 lead with 11:42 to play in the first half, before Wolf got Shorter on the board 32 seconds later. Stasiak collected a goal with 5:29 left in the half as the teams went to intermission with Tusculum ahead 4-1.
The teams exchanged goals through the third quarter, with tallied from Brewer and Lockwood answered by the Hawks' Tucker and Wallace. Brewer's second of the quarter with 1:27 left put the Pioneers on top 7-3 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers stretched their lead to 9-3 as Miller and Lockwood scored in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, but Shorter got the goals back in a 29-second span from Wolf and Ware to trail 9-5 with 11:30 to play. An exchange of goals from Lockwood and Jones for Tusculum and Tucker and Grimwade for Shorter kept the Tusculum lead at 11-7 with 5:39 left. The Pioneers put the game on ice in the final four minutes, receiving goals from Carolin-Vandenberg, Brewer and Bourne to lock up the win.
Annagrace Crane led all players in the match with eight draw controls for the Hawks, while Ware had a team-high three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Shorter finished the match with a 13-11 edge in draws over Tusculum, but the Pioneers had a 22-15 advantage in ground balls.
Emily White had five saves in goal for the Pioneers, while Sydney Jones made 12 stops for the Hawks, including nine in the first half.
Tusculum will be on the road on Saturday, Feb. 10 to face Lee at 2 p.m. The Flames are 1-1 after beating UVA Wise 17-11 in their season opener on Saturday, and losing 21-12 to seventh-ranked Rollins on Tuesday, both at home.
