GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's lacrosse team faces its toughest competition of the season to date when the Pioneers visit Newberry College on Saturday in a South Atlantic Conference match. Game time with the Wolves is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from Setzler Field.
The Pioneers (7-0, 1-0 SAC) remained undefeated and extended the longest win streak in school history to seven straight with a 16-9 victory over Mars Hill in their conference opener last Saturday at Pioneer Field. Tusculum has outscored its opponents 121-59 through seven games.
In the win over Mars Hill, the Pioneers erased an early 2-0 deficit with a run of seven straight goals. Freshman Wesley Phillips finished with two goals and five assists, senior Kale Lawrence had four goals and two assists and senior Ross Geiger made 13 of his 17 saves in the second half, including eight in the fourth quarter.
Both Tusculum and Newberry are among teams receiving votes this week in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division II Coaches poll. Tusculum has been included in the rankings for each of the last three weeks.
PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Senior Nate Raymond extended his school-record goal streak to 17 consecutive games with a pair of goals against Mars Hill. Raymond leads the Pioneers with 30 goals and 44 points, which already place him in a tie for fourth on the single-season goal list and fifth in points in a season for Tusculum. With 96 career points, Raymond is four shy of becoming the seventh player in program history with 100 career points.
Raymond ranks fourth in the SAC and ninth in Division II in points per game at 6.29, and is fourth in the conference and seventh in the nation in goals per game at 4.29. Raymond also ranks seventh in the conference and 30th in Division II with 2.00 assists per game.
Phillips is already in second place on the Tusculum single-season assist list with 20, a little more than halfway to the record of 37 assists set by Liam Macdonald in 2019. Phillips is sixth in the SAC in assists per game (2.86) and ranks 12th in Division II. His seven-point game against Mars Hill was his second of the season, and he has five multi-assist games in the Pioneers' first seven contests.
Junior Tristan Kirkham is second on the team in both goals (25) and points (32) and is tied for the team lead with five man-up goals. Kirkham is seventh in the SAC in goals per game at 3.57 and 10th in points per game at 4.57, while his five man-up goals are tied with senior Jordan Daniel for second in the SAC and fourth in Division II.
Lawrence is fourth on the team in goals with 18 and tied for fourth with 25 points, and enters the weekend in eighth on the career goal list at Tusculum with 67. His 18 goals this season are a career high, as are his 25 points. Graduate Lorenz Brown has extended his school-record point streak to 23 straight games and his goal streak to 16 in a row, with his 16 goals fifth on the team this season.
Daniel has added 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points, and is tied for the team lead in man-up goals with five. Senior Sean Dunn has six goals and four assists for 10 points, and is second on the team in ground balls with 20.
Senior Andy Michalski is second in the conference and 13th in Division II in faceoff winning percentage at 62.9 percent (124-for-197). He is also second in the SAC and eighth in Division II in ground balls per game with 10.0. Michalski's 70 ground balls are five shy of tying the program single-season record of 75 ground balls set by Jake Smith in 2016. He already holds the season record for faceoff wins (124), and earlier this season became the career leader in ground balls (183) and faceoff wins (349).
Sophomore Nicholas Drennan leads the Pioneer defense with 19 ground balls and five caused turnovers, and scored his first career goal with a man down against Mars Hill last Saturday. Senior Tyler Nunenmacher has collected 12 ground balls and senior Fred Harbinson has 14 ground balls and three caused turnovers. Sophomore Nick May has six ground balls and five caused turnovers off the bench for the Pioneers.
Geiger is second in the SAC in goals against average and 17th in Division II at 9.27, and ranks third in the SAC in both save percentage (.571) and saves per game (12.00). Geiger has a save percentage of over 60 percent in four of his six starts, and has allowed nine goals or less in five of his six starts for the Pioneers.
Tusculum continues to lead the SAC in scoring offense (17.29 goals per game), scoring defense (8.43 goals per game) and scoring margin (plus-8.86 goals per game). The Pioneers are second in Division II in shooting percentage at 40.1 percent, and rank third in the conference in both man-up (50.0 percent) and man-down (.750) situations. Tusculum is clearing at 82.6 percent to rank fifth in the conference, and is second in faceoff winning percentage at 62.3 percent.
SCOUTING THE WOLVES
Newberry (3-2, 0-1 SAC) played its third straight game against a nationally-ranked opponent on Tuesday and came away with a 13-12 victory at 18th-ranked Mount Olive. The Wolves led 11-4 after three quarters and went up 13-9 on an end-to-end goal by goalkeeper Griffen Broad with 5:51 left, only to see the Trojans score three straight to cut the margin to one with 1:20 left. The win snapped a two-game losing streak by the Wolves, with the losses to 4th-ranked Indianapolis by a 15-8 score on Feb. 19 and 12th-ranked Queens in their SAC opener on March 5.
A balanced Newberry offense is led by sophomore Baker Westmoreland with 13 goals and four assists for 17 points, along with junior Scott Reed with 12 goals and five assists for 17 points. Sophomore Mac Ryan has 14 goals and junior Curtis Bukta has added 11 for the Wolves, who are seventh in the SAC in scoring at 14.0 goals per game.
Sophomore Connor Bates has taken a majority of the faceoffs for Newberry and is at 61.3 percent (46-for-75) with 29 ground balls. Senior Zachery Dadabo is at 49.0 percent (25-for-51) on faceoffs, helping the team rank sixth in the conference on faceoffs at 56.3 percent for the season. Freshman Jack Travassos leads the Newberry field players with 14 ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Broad has started two games in goal for the Wolves and has an 8.80 goals against average and a .500 save percentage in two wins, sharing time with junior Jackson Von Eschen who has a 10.29 goals against average and a .419 save percentage in 105 minutes of playing time.
Newberry is sixth in the SAC in scoring defense at 10.60, and ranks fourth in man-down defense at 73.9 percent. The highest conference ranking for the Wolves is in shooting percentage, where Newberry is third at 35.2 percent.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Tusculum and Newberry are even at two wins apiece in the all-time series between the teams. The visiting team has won all four matchups, with Tusculum earning one-goal wins at Newberry in 2018 and 2020 and the Wolves claiming three-goal wins at Pioneer Field in 2019 and 2021, with last year's victory coming by a 12-9 score.
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live stats are available for all home Tusculum University men's lacrosse matches. Links to stats and video for home and away matches are posted at tusculumpioneers.com.
