GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Following a busy week that featured three matches in six days, the Tusculum University women's soccer team will aim to start South Atlantic Conference action on a positive note as the Pioneers play a pair of matches this week.
The Pioneers (0-4-0) will visit Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 12:30 p.m., prior to a home match with Mars Hill on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 2 p.m.
Tusculum dropped all three of its matches last week, falling in overtime to King by a 2-1 score on Tuesday evening, then dropping two contests in Florida over the weekend to Tampa and Eckerd.
RECAPPING THE WEEK
On Tuesday, King scored 34 seconds into overtime to steal the 2-1 win despite the Pioneers outshooting the Tornado (1-1-0) 15-2 in the first half and 20-11 in the match. Tusculum could only muster a goal from Kenzie Ellenburg in the first half, but appeared poised to nurse the one-goal margin to the finish until a King goal knotted the score at 1-1 with just over 19 minutes to play. King keeper Kristal Garcia kept her squad close by making 11 saves in the match, including eight during the first-half barrage from Tusculum. The Pioneers were also unlucky with a pair of shots off the crossbar, one in each half.
The Pioneers visited Tampa on Friday and fell to the Spartans by a score of 8-0. The Spartans (1-1-1) scored three goals in the first 17 minutes, then added three goals during a five-minute surge midway through the second half. The Spartans outshot the Pioneers by a 26-7 margin in the contest.
On Sunday, Eckerd scored four times in a 16-minute span of the first half and earned a 4-0 victory over the Pioneers. The Tritons (2-0-1) outshot the Pioneers (0-4-0) by an 18-4 margin in the victory. All four Eckerd goals came between the 18th and 34th minutes as the Tritons held an 11-1 shot advantage in the opening half.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Ellenburg, who did not play in the weekend matches in Florida, continues to account for all three of the Pioneers' goals through four matches. Tusculum has been held scoreless for 251 minutes since Ellenburg's first-half goal against King.
Seven players have started all four matches for the Pioneers, including the freshman defensive trio of Kate Benne, Myah Giordullo and Laila Pitt. Sixteen different players have made at least one start for Tusculum, while 24 players have seen game action through the first four contests.
Grayson Patterson has started three matches in goal for the Pioneers and has a 3.65 goals against average. Emma Harriman made her first career start against Eckerd, and has a 4.97 goals against average in 163 minutes of playing time.
Tusculum has been outscored 17-3 in its first four matches, with the opposition having a 72-38 advantage in shot attempts and a 42-24 edge in shots on goal. The Pioneers have been outscored 9-2 in the first half and 8-1 in the second half through four games.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Lincoln Memorial (2-0-1) earned a win and a draw last week, playing to a 2-2 deadlock at Clayton State on Wednesday before defeating West Virginia State 1-0 on Friday. Against Clayton State, the Railsplitters trailed 2-0 after 14 minutes but got goals from Jessica Cravero in the 31st minute and Merel Houweling in the 73rd minute to earn the draw. In the win over West Virginia State, Rachel Taylor broke the deadlock with 13:20 left and Bente Latenstein had four saves in goal in her collegiate debut.
Cravero and Taylor are tied with Tusculum's Ellenburg with three goals, one behind Hannah Dunn of Catawba for the conference lead. Taylor is second in the conference in points with eight, as she has a pair of assists to go with her three goals. Isabelle Zukaitis started the first two games in goal for LMU and has a 0.90 goals against average and a .714 save percentage.
The Pioneers and Railsplitters played twice in the spring as part of the regular-season round-robin schedule, and both matches ended in a 1-1 draw. Tusculum leads the all-time series with Lincoln Memorial by a 16-9-5 margin, with three of the last four meetings going to overtime.
Mars Hill (1-2-1) went 0-6 during the spring season, but earned its first win of the fall by defeating Erskine 1-0 on Wednesday on a goal by Sanne Martinsen with just over six minutes to play. Martinsen scored again on Saturday as the Lions led at halftime at Alabama Huntsville, but two goals midway through the second half gave the Chargers the 2-1 win.
Mortensen has scored both goals for the Lions through four games, with Bailey Whitehead assisting on both tallies. Miller has started the last three matches for the Lions, making a total of 26 saves and compiling a 0.62 goals against average. Miller had 11 saves in a 0-0 tie with Mount Olive on Sept. 4 in her first start of the season.
The Lions dropped 2-0 and 4-0 setbacks to the Pioneers last spring, with the sweep extending Tusculum's lead in the all-time series over Mars Hill to 25-6.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live stats and video are available for all home Tusculum University women's soccer matches. Links to stats and video for home and away matches are available at tusculumpioneers.com.
