YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. --- Tusculum University scored three goals in the final 68 seconds of the first half to break a 3-3 tie, and the Pioneers went on to claim a 14-7 victory over Young Harris College in the 2022 men's lacrosse season opener Wednesday night.
The Pioneers (1-0) won their third straight season opener and gave a victory to first-year head coach Rodney Tapp in his Tusculum debut. The Pioneers went 2-for-3 on extra-man opportunities and killed off all five of the Mountain Lions' man-up situations in the game, played in rainy conditions on the turf at Young Harris.
Tristan Kirkham scored five goals and added an assist for the Pioneers, with Nate Raymond adding three goals and two assists. Lorenz Brown contributed two goals and an assist, Jordan Daniel scored twice, Andy Michalski had a goal and an assist and Kale Lawrence also scored for the Pioneers, who outshot the Mountain Lions by a 40-22 margin. Nic Baker led the Mountain Lions (0-1) with four goals, but Young Harris could not overcome a 6-0 Tusculum run that spanned the second and third quarters.
Young Harris opened the scoring 2:45 into the first quarter on a goal by Taylor Redmon, but the Pioneers tied it at 1-1 on Raymond's first of the evening with 2:29 to go in the period. Daniel scored the first of his two man-up goals with 11:03 to play in the second quarter to give Tusculum a 2-1 lead, and the Pioneers would keep the Mountain Lions without a goal for just over 19 minutes until a goal by Tommy Chriszt tied the score at 2-2 with 6:12 to go in the half.
The goal from Chriszt sparked a flurry of goals, as the teams combined for six goals in the final 6 1/2 minutes of the half. Kirkham gave the Pioneers the lead back at 3-2 with 5:09 remaining in the half, only to see the Mountain Lions come back to knot the score at 3-3 on a goal from Baker with 3:20 left. Tusculum would score on its final three shots of the half, as Daniel gave the Pioneers a 4-3 lead with 1:08 left and Raymond followed off a feed from Sean Dunn with 17 seconds left. The Pioneers would net one more before intermission as Michalski won the faceoff and connected with Lawrence with 12 seconds to play as Tusculum took a 6-3 lead to the half.
Tusculum would add to its lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter, as two goals from Kirkham and one from Raymond gave the Pioneers a 9-3 lead with 11:09 left in the period. Baker would snap the Tusculum run with 6:02 left in the quarter, but two goals in 34 seconds from Kirkham gave the Pioneers an 11-4 lead with 4:04 to play in the period. Baker added a goal in the final minute of the frame as Tusculum carried an 11-5 lead into the fourth.
The Pioneers tacked on a goal from Lorenz Brown with 12:56 left to go up 12-5, and Baker got his third of the night with 5:04 left. The Mountain Lions would pull within 12-7 on a goal from Gunnar Fagerstrom with 3:59 to play, but Brown netted his second of the quarter with 1:04 remaining and Michalski closed the scoring with 16 seconds to play.
Michalski was 12-for-25 on faceoffs and had a game-high nine ground balls for the Pioneers, with Dunn adding five ground balls and three apiece from Daniel and Nicholas Drennan. Ben Soenen led Young Harris with seven ground balls and Jakob Haas had five while going 13-for-25 on faceoffs.
The wet conditions led to less-than-clean play at times, as Young Harris committed 30 turnovers and Tusculum turned the ball over 27 times. The Pioneers were 22-for-27 on clears and the Mountain Lions were 18-for-26 on clears in the match. Tusculum had a 33-30 advantage in ground balls.
Ross Geiger finished with 11 saves in goal for the Pioneers, while Dylan Wilbur had 14 saves for the Mountain Lions as Tusculum had a 28-18 edge in shots on goal in the contest.
The Pioneers will play their home opener on Tuesday, Feb. 8 against Shorter at Pioneer Field. Tusculum will play four of its next five matches at home before opening conference play against Mars Hill on Saturday, March 5.
