ANDERSON, S.C. --- Isaiah Hines and Ryley Zopfi scored four goals apiece to lead Anderson University to an 18-10 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action Wednesday night at Spero Financial Field.
Triston Schaffer added two goals and three assists and faceoff specialist Cam Weeks went 13-for-17 with 11 ground balls for the Trojans (8-4, 4-2 SAC), who bounced back from an upset loss to Catawba on Saturday by going on a 5-0 scoring run in the first half en route to a 10-4 halftime lead.
Nate Raymond led the Pioneers (7-4, 1-4 SAC) with three goals, Sean Dunn and Tristan Kirkham each had two goals and an assist and Lorenz Brown had a goal and two assists for Tusculum. Jordan Daniel contributed a goal and an assist and Kale Lawrence also scored for the Pioneers, who were outshot 58-32 by the Trojans in the contest and dropped their fourth game in a row.
Hines, who led Anderson in goals last season with 43, missed the Trojans' first nine games and had just two assists in two games since returning to the lineup. Zopfi, who was tied for fifth on the team in goals entering the game, scored on four of his six shot attempts for the Trojans in the win. Logan Gaddis added a goal and three assists and Trey Davis and Ryan Gundersen each scored twice for Anderson, which went 23-for-27 on clears and forced Tusculum into 19 turnovers.
Raymond's three goals increased his season total to 40, making him just the second player in Tusculum history to score 40 goals in a season. He is four shy of tying Keegan Bell (44 goals in 2019) for the program single-season record for goals. Raymond has scored a goal in a program-record 21 consecutive games, while Brown has registered at least one point in a record 27 games in a row.
Anderson needed just 36 seconds to get on the board as Hines scored his first of the season for a 1-0 Trojans lead, followed by an extra-man goal from Zopfi with 6:53 left in the first quarter. Dunn gave the Pioneers their first goal of the game with 6:20 left in the period, but the Trojans would net three in just over a minute to go up 5-1 with 4:06 remaining. A goal from Kirkham cut the margin to 5-2 with 2:22 left in the quarter, but Anderson got the goal back to take a 6-2 lead after one.
The Trojans built their lead to 10-2 by scoring the first four goals of the second quarter over a span of six minutes, but Tusculum would close the half on goals from Daniel and a man-up goal from Raymond with 4:20 left as the Trojans carried a 10-4 lead to halftime.
Dunn's second goal of the game cut the Tusculum deficit to 10-5 with 11:47 left in the third, but goals from Zopfi and Kaleb West stretched Anderson's lead to 12-5 with 9:40 remaining in the period. Raymond netted his second of the game with 9:02 left in the third, and goals from Zopfi for Anderson and Kirkham for Tusculum left the Trojans holding a 13-7 lead heading to the final quarter.
Anderson scored the first five goals of the fourth quarter to take an 18-7 lead with 11:16 remaining, but Tusculum responded with goals from Brown, Lawrence and Raymond to cut the margin to 18-10 with 5:25 to go. However, Tusculum would have just three possessions the rest of the game.
Tusculum faceoff man Andy Michalski finished the game 15-for-32 on faceoffs and led the Pioneers with eight ground balls, including the 200th of his career late in the first quarter following a faceoff win against Weeks. Brown and Dunn had four ground balls apiece for the Pioneers, with three each for TJ Caldwell and Bryce Grimball. Aside from Weeks, Schaffer and Chase Robertson had four ground balls apiece for the Trojans.
Anderson finished 2-for-5 with the man advantage while Tusculum was 1-for-4 in extra-man opportunities. Anderson had a 38-37 edge in ground balls and had just 13 turnovers as a team in the game. Tusculum was 18-for-21 on clears and had a 14-12 advantage in shots on goal in the second half after Anderson had a 22-9 lead at halftime.
Ross Geiger finished with 16 saves in goal for the Pioneers, while Joey Heckel had 10 saves and allowed seven goals in the first 49 minutes for the Trojans. Logan Trafton played the final 11 minutes between the pipes for Anderson and made three saves on six shots on goal.
Tusculum will wrap up a stretch of five straight games against teams that have been ranked in the USILA Division II poll this season when the Pioneers visit 17th-ranked Queens on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Royals beat Coker 14-6 Wednesday evening to improve to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in SAC play.
