ETTRICK, Va. --- Tusculum University collected a 15-9 victory at Virginia State University in non-conference men's lacrosse Saturday afternoon.
Luke Bowen finished with four goals and three assists and Zach Afalla had three goals and two assists for the Pioneers (4-0), who are off to their best start since opening the 2022 season with seven victories. Ben Hobday had two goals and two assists with two goals apiece from Tysen Fontenla and Preston Stewart.
Noah Byers led the Trojans (1-2) with three goals, Hayden Morrison had two goals and an assist and Amari Kennedy scored twice for Virginia State, which led 1-0 before Tusculum scored five goals in a six-minute span of the first quarter to take command.
The Pioneers led 6-2 after one quarter and built the lead to 10-4 by halftime as Hobday scored twice with the man advantage in the final five minutes of the half. Tusculum scored five of the six goals in the third quarter, with two each from Bowen and Fontenla, to go up 15-5 after three quarters before the Trojans outscored the Pioneers 4-0 in the final period.
Jayden Rios was 13-for-18 on faceoffs and had 11 ground balls for the Pioneers. with three ground balls and two caused turnovers for Afalla. Aiden Paczek had four caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls as Tusculum forced 26 Virginia State turnovers and had a 36-22 advantage in ground balls.
The Pioneers finished the match 3-for-4 with the extra man while the Trojans were 1-for-5 with the man up. The Pioneers were 23-for-25 on clears and the Trojans were 29-for-35, and Tusculum ended the match with a 37-36 shot advantage and a 19-8 edge on faceoffs.
Garrett Smith played the first three quarters in goal for the Pioneers and had four saves, with two saves in the fourth quarter for Ryan McKeown. Jace Wiggins had 15 saves for the Trojans between the pipes.
The Pioneers will open their South Atlantic Conference schedule on Wednesday, March 4 beginning at 4 p.m. at Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0 at home with a 22-5 victory over Malone on Saturday.
