HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Lincoln Memorial University outscored Tusculum University 9-2 during a decisive third-quarter run that lifted the Railsplitters to a 17-13 win over the Pioneers in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse Wednesday afternoon.
The Railsplitters (4-1, 1-0 SAC) received five goals and an assist from Jenson Jones and three goals and an assist from Shane Psaltis in the victory over the Pioneers (4-1, 0-1 SAC). Lincoln Memorial outshot Tusculum 46-38 and had a commanding 27-7 edge in faceoffs, led by Brixten McKenzie who went 23-for-28 and had a team-high eight ground balls.
Ben Royer and Luke Bowen each reached the 100-point milestone for their careers for the Pioneers, with Royer scoring four goals and an assist and Bowen adding a goal and an assist. Royer now has 50 goals and 52 assists for 102 points in 24 career games, while Bowen has 42 goals and 59 assists for 101 points in 21 games with the Pioneers.
Tysen Fontenla scored three goals and Aidan Villano had a pair of goals for the Pioneers, with a goal and an assist apiece from Bowen, Zach Afalla and Clay Mendez. Ben Hobday also scored for the Pioneers, who were 1-for-4 with the man advantage while allowing one goal to Lincoln Memorial in three man-up attempts.
Tusculum led 2-0 after four minutes on goals from Fontenla and Villano, and stretched its lead to 5-2 on goals from Mendez, Royer and Hobday. However, a goal from McKenzie with five seconds left in the first quarter drew the Railsplitters within 5-3 after the opening period.
LMU tied the score at 5-5 on a goal from Psaltis with 6:27 to go in the first half, but Tusculum regained the lead on a Royer goal with 5:03 left and added a goal from Fontenla with 1:36 left to carry a 7-5 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was nearly all Railsplitters as LMU tied the game at 7-7 within the first minute of the period, and went up 9-7 on the fourth goal of the day by Jones with 11:13 to go. Bowen scored with the man advantage with 8:11 left to cut the deficit to 9-8, but the Railsplitters ran off five of the next six goals to build their lead to 14-9 after three quarters.
Lincoln Memorial was up 16-10 with 10:16 to go, but Tusculum was able to get goals from Royer, Fontenla and Afalla in the final five minutes to narrow the final margin. Afalla had four ground balls and two caused turnovers for the Pioneers in the game.
Aiden Paczek led Tusculum with four caused turnovers and had four ground balls, with two caused turnovers and two ground balls for Jesse Brown. Gavin Reid had four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers for the Railsplitters, with three ground balls and two caused turnovers for Beckett O'Shea and Connor Blondin.
Tusculum was 22-for-25 on clears in the match while Lincoln Memorial had 15 successful clears in 19 attempts. The Railsplitters had a 39-25 advantage in ground balls and turned the ball over 19 times to 21 for the Pioneers.
Garrett Smith finished with 13 saves in goal for the Pioneers, with Jayden Herman making three saves in the first half and Connor Fitzgibbon making one stop in the second half.
Tusculum will play its home opener on Saturday, March 7 at noon against ninth-ranked Wingate at Pioneer Field. The Bulldogs (3-1, 1-0 SAC) defeated Coker 21-9 in their SAC opener on Wednesday.
