GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Wingate University rode a 12-goal first quarter to a 25-8 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Sean Clark had five goals in the opening quarter and added an assist for the ninth-ranked Bulldogs (4-1, 2-0 SAC), who outshot the Pioneers (4-2, 0-2 SAC) by a 55-31 margin. Joey Moran and Liam Elliott had three goals each and Kyle Spence had two goals and four assists for the Bulldogs, who were a perfect 17-for-17 on clears and held a 43-20 edge in ground balls over the Pioneers.
Ben Royer and Luke Bowen had two goals and an assist apiece for the Pioneers, with two goals from Preston Stewart and a goal and an assist for Tysen Fontenla. Traford Couchman had a goal for the Pioneers, who were 11-for-20 on clears and turned the ball over 19 times in the game.
Wingate roared out to a 7-0 lead after 10 1/2 minutes before Tusculum got on the board on a goal from Stewart with 4:21 left in the first quarter. Stewart added his second of the game with two seconds left in the first quarter but the Pioneers faced a 12-2 deficit. Wingate shut out Tusculum in the second quarter and carried a 19-2 lead into halftime.
Royer scored midway through the third quarter for the Pioneers, and Tusculum scored the final three goals of the period as Fontenla and Bowen tallied 11 seconds apart and Couchman beat the buzzer to end the quarter. Royer collected a man-up goal early in the fourth quarter and Bowen closed the scoring with 6:38 left off an assist by Drew DiMondo.
Jayden Rios led the Pioneers with seven ground balls and finished 12-for-27 on faceoffs, with four ground balls and two caused turnovers for Blake Harrison and three ground balls for Jackson Cardey. Mason Tolar led the Bulldogs on faceoffs by going 8-for-12 with four ground balls.
Garrett Smith had four saves in the first half for the Pioneers, followed by Ryan McKeown with four saves in the third quarter and one save for Alex Germain in the fourth. Wingate also played three goalkeepers, with three saves for starter Quad Williams, five for Matt Jannotte and two for Jack Altman.
Wingate finished 3-for-5 with the man advantage while Tusculum scored once in five extra-man opportunities in the match.
The Pioneers will be home to take on Mars Hill on Wednesday, March 18 at 6 p.m. at Pioneer Field. The Lions fell to 1-5 overall with their fourth straight loss on Saturday, a 19-9 non-conference setback to Lees-McRae.
