TIGERVILLE, S.C. --- An eight-goal first quarter sparked Tusculum University to an 18-8 victory at North Greenville University in non-conference women's lacrosse Saturday evening.
Freshman Carmella Nilsson scored five goals in her collegiate debut and Elisha Stack had three goals and four assists for the Pioneers (1-0), who also received four goals from Sophia Didzbalis in the victory.
Aubree Mayse led the Trailblazers (0-1) with three goals and Mary Regan and Josie Rose had two goals apiece for North Greenville, which was outshot 28-17 by Tusculum and turned the ball over 16 times in the match.
Tusculum dashed to a 3-0 lead after six minutes and used three straight goals from Didzbalis in a span of one minute, 35 seconds to build an 8-1 lead after one quarter. Tusculum would stretch the lead to 11-3 by halftime as Nilsson added two more goals in the second quarter.
The Pioneers saw the lead cut to 12-5 earl in the third quarter, but reeled off six consecutive goals including two each from Stack and Nilsson to go ahead 18-5 after three quarter. North Greeneville would score the only three goals of the fourth quarter to finish out the scoring.
Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg had a goal and three ground balls along with two caused turnovers for the Pioneers, with two ground balls and two caused turnovers for Celeste Raya. Reese Remaly led the Pioneers with four draw controls, helping Tusculum to a 15-11 advantage on draws in the match.
Emily White played the first 49 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and had four saves, with Emery Dove finishing out the final 11 minutes. Sydney Spelman had seven saves in goal for the Trailblazers.
Tusculum will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Emmanuel, beginning at 2 p.m. The Lions lost 17-1 to 11th-ranked Flagler in their season opener on Jan. 30.
