GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's lacrosse team will open its 2026 season on the road when the Pioneers visit Emmanuel University this Saturday (Feb. 7).
The Pioneers will play their first five games of the season on the road after seeing their previously-scheduled opener at Wheeling canceled due to weather on Feb. 2. Tusculum will not play at home until hosting Wingate on Saturday, March 7 at Pioneer Field, the first of five home contests for the Pioneers during the 2026 season.
Third-year head coach Mike Brisbin has a veteran squad that includes all seven players who scored in double figures last season and 12 of the 16 players who scored at least one goal last season. The Pioneers will look for improvement on last season's 5-11 overall record, which included three home victories at Pioneer Field.
Junior Luke Bowen (Edmonton, Alta.) set program single-season records with 45 assists and 75 points last season, and was selected as the team Most Valuable Player. Bowen was third in the SAC in both assists per game (2.69) and points per game (4.56), ranking in the top 15 nationally in both categories. Junior Ben Royer (Edmonton, Alta.) was second on the team in goals (31), assists (36) and points (67) and was fifth in the SAC in assists per game (2.06) and ninth in points per game (3.94).
Senior Clay Mendez (Bartow, Fla.) had 26 goals and 15 assists for 41 points last season and has 60 goals in 31 career contests with the Pioneers. Junior Ben Hobday (Leduc County, Alta.) was third on the team with 27 goals and 41 points and ranked fourth on the team with 14 assists, to go along with 26 ground balls. Sophomore Carter McIntyre (Delta, B.C.) had four goals for the Pioneers as a freshman, all coming in their win over Thomas More on April 16 of last season.
Sophomore Aiden Villano (Hillsborough, N.J) had a goal in the season opener against Young Harris last season, but missed the rest of the year due to injury. Joining the program are sophomore Collin Shell (Blountville, Tenn.), who had 14 goals at Emory & Henry last season, along with freshmen Zach Afalla (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Drew DiMondo (Centereach, N.Y.).
At midfield, junior Tysen Fontenla (Nanaimo, B.C.) led the Pioneers with 34 goals last season, including a team-high seven with the man advantage, and had 31 ground balls. Junior Preston Stewart (Beaumont, Alta.) finished with 19 goals and had 25 ground balls last season, while sophomore Jayden Thomas (Nanaimo, B.C.) had 19 goals and four assists with 23 points. Sophomore Chase Hawthorne (Bartow, Fla.) appeared in seven matches for the Pioneers last season.
Junior Zane Collington (York, Pa.) comes to Tusculum after scoring nine goals and picking up 29 ground balls for CCBC Essex during the 2025 season. Freshmen midfielders for the Pioneers are Alex Goodwin (Kingsport, Tenn.), Jake Kent (Winnipeg, Man.) and Hagan Windsor (Bunker Hill, W.Va.).
On faceoffs, junior Jayden Rios (Stony Point, N.Y.) was first-team All-CACC at Felician last season after winning 63.8 percent of his faceoffs (166 wins) and ranking second in Division II with 10.23 ground balls per game (133 ground balls). Rios also had 20 goals and 10 assists for 30 points, and posted 328 faceoff wins and 255 ground balls in two seasons with Felician.
Sophomore Shiloh Martin (Upper Marlboro, Md.) had 58 faceoff wins and 43 ground balls in nine matches last season at Missouri Valley, and also joining the program is freshman Shaun Lemishka (Chilliwack, B.C.).
Returning at defensive midfield for the Pioneers are juniors Keith Norton (Jackson, Miss.) and Ayden Lightner (St. Cloud, Fla.). Norton had seven ground balls and two caused turnovers in nine matches last season, while Lightner picked up 12 ground balls and had four caused turnovers in 12 contests. Sophomore Grayson Collins (Greeneville, Tenn.) finished with 19 ground balls and six caused turnovers, while scoring a pair of goals.
Sophomore Alistair MacGregor (Anthem, Ariz.) appeared in last year's season opener, picking up one ground ball. Newcomers are freshmen Brody Pressley (Cornelius, N.C.) and Traford Couchman (Red Deer, Alta.) along with sophomore Conrad Binkley (Dallas, Texas), who transferred from Newberry where he played five matches across two years.
Tusculum has a veteran defense group led by three returning starters in junior Jesse Brown (Eagleville, Tenn.), sophomore Aiden Lyman (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and junior Aiden Paczek (Ottawa, Ont.). Brown led the Pioneers with 20 caused turnovers last season and had 35 ground balls, while Lyman finished with 26 ground balls and six caused turnovers in nine starts. Paczek started all 16 matches and had 17 caused turnovers and 34 ground balls, while junior Blake Harrison (Sherwood Park, Alta.) was second on the team with 48 ground balls and 19 caused turnovers.
Sophomores Roman Tyner (Owasso, Okla.) and Matthew Moore (St. Catharines, Ont.) are joined by a host of freshmen on defense for the Pioneers: Jackson Cardey (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), Isaac Fajardo (Los Angeles, Calif.), Logan Glisson (Phoenix, Ariz.), Tucker Houston (Clover, S.C.) and Jordan York (York, S.C.).
In goal, senior Alex Germain (Gansevoort, N.Y.) played 73 minutes last season and made 17 saves, while sophomore Garrett Smith (Canton, Ga.) played 117 minutes and had 33 saves with a .559 save percentage. Freshman Ryan McKeown (Ottawa, Ont.) joins Germain and Smith between the pipes for the Pioneers.
