BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. — Clay Mendez tied the Tusculum University single-game record for goals with nine as the Pioneers overpowered Montreat College 25-9 in non-conference men’s lacrosse Thursday night at Pulliam Stadium.
Wesley Phillips scored a career-high five goals and became the 11th player in program history to reach 100 career points for the Pioneers (1-6), who outshot the Cavaliers (1-7) by a 67-33 margin. Tusculum’s 67 shots were the second-most in a game in program history, while the 25 goals were tied for the second-most in a single game and the most-ever by the Pioneers in a road game.
Tusculum set single-game program records with 72 ground balls and 32 faceoff wins, breaking the old records of 60 ground balls set Feb. 14, 2021 at Chowan and 30 faceoff wins set March 9, 2019 against Barton.
Mendez added two assists for 11 points, tied for the second-most in a game in program history, while his 14 shots tied the school single-game record set three previous times. The nine goals from Mendez tied the school record of nine set by Nate Raymond at Emmanuel on Feb. 19, 2022.
Blake Harrison had two goals and five assists for the Pioneers, while Chase Penner added two goals and four assists. Bryce Grimball tallied a goal and three assists, with two goals and an assist from William Nuzzo. TJ Caldwell, Bryson Steele, Diego Hopkins and Ben Hobday each had one goal apiece for the Pioneers, who were 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
Jay Chance had three goals and Grayson Scott collected two goals and two assists for the Cavaliers, who also received two goals and an assist from Johnny Miles and two goals from Eli King.
Tusculum opened the scoring on a goal from Mendez just over two minutes into the first quarter, but goals from Miles and Scott gave Montreat its only lead at 2-1 with 11:34 left in the period. Tusculum received two goals from Phillips and one from Penner to take a 4-2 lead after one quarter.
The Pioneers outscored the Cavaliers 8-1 in the second quarter to stretch its lead to 12-3 at halftime. Mendez and Phillips each scored three goals during the quarter, while Harrison and Caldwell each had a goal for the Pioneers in the frame.
In the third quarter, Tusculum tacked on nine goals which included five in a 9 1/2 minute span from Mendez along with a goal and three assists from Harrison.
The Pioneers would spread around the offense in the fourth quarter, receiving a man-up goal from Nuzzo along with goals from Grimball, Hobday and Hopkins, the latter coming with 40 seconds left.
Nathan Fraser won a career-high 18 faceoffs on 20 attempts and had 15 ground balls for the Pioneers, while also recording a pair of assists. Drake Vance was 12-for-15 on faceoffs and Austin Wallace was 2-for-2 as the Pioneers were 32-for-37 as a team in the match.
Nolan Ross led the Pioneer defense with three caused turnovers and a career-best nine ground balls, while Grimball and Vance each had six ground balls. For Montreat, Justin Holland had seven ground balls and Miles added five.
Tusculum used three keepers in the match, with starter Brenden Pecora making one save in 33 minutes followed by Nick Adams with one save in 12 minutes and Sam Johnson with four stops in 15 minutes. For Montreat, Josh Espinosa played the first three quarters and had 10 saves, with Brandon Sandoval making five saves in the fourth period.
The Pioneers will return to action on Wednesday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Field against third-ranked Limestone. The Saints will carry a 7-0 record into Saturday’s showdown at home against top-ranked and defending national champion Lenoir-Rhyne.
