HARROGATE, Tenn. — An eight-goal third quarter powered Tusculum University to a 17-16 victory over Lincoln Memorial University in South Atlantic Conference women’s lacrosse Wednesday night.
The Pioneers (8-6, 4-3 SAC) nearly saw a three-goal lead slip away in the final minute to the Railsplitters (6-8, 2-5 SAC) but were able to secure their second straight one-goal win and move into fifth place in the SAC standings with three games left in the regular season.
With the victory, Tusculum snapped a five-game losing streak to Lincoln Memorial dating to 2018 in their fourth game of the season decided by one goal. The Pioneers are 9-8 all-time in one-goal games, and have won consecutive games by a single goal for the first time in the program’s 12-year history.
Liberty Jones led the Pioneers with four goals and an assist, with three goals and three assists from Elisha Stack, three goals and an assist from Carmella Nilsson and three goals from Sophia Didzbalis. Mya Halladay and Kayla Nuccio each had a goal and an assist, with a goal each from Laura Nance Pickens and Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg.
Ruby Copeland, Josie Tinnerello and Jaiden Jaynes each scored four goals for the Railsplitters, with a goal and four assists from Abby Durkin. The Railsplitters were a dismal 8-for-18 on clear attempts and turned the ball over 24 times, while facing a 28-18 ground ball deficit to the Pioneers in the contest.
Tusculum took advantage of physical play from Lincoln Memorial, drawing eight cards which led to seven goals with the on-field advantage including five in the third quarter alone. However, the Pioneers had 22 turnovers of their own, including eight in the fourth quarter, and were just 8-for-17 on clears as a team.
The Pioneers opened the scoring on a goal by Jones with 2:20 gone in the first quarter, but the Railsplitters came back with three goals in just under a minute to go up 3-1 with 11:10 left in the period. The Pioneers ran off four straight goals, with two from Stack, to go up 5-3 with 4:42 to go in the quarter, but the Railsplitters answered with three in a row to go up 6-5 after one period. Stack scored early in the second quarter to tie the game at 6-6, but the Railsplitters would lead for the final 12 minutes of the half to go into the intermission holding a 10-8 lead.
The third quarter was all Tusculum as back-to-back goals from Nilsson put the Pioneers in front 11-10 with 9:27 left in the quarter. The Pioneers would add four more goals in the next four minutes — all while LMU was a player down — and grabbed a 15-11 lead with 5:38 remaining in the quarter on a goal from Nilsson. After Jones put the Pioneers up 16-11, Copeland scored in the final minute of the period to bring the Railsplitters within 16-12 heading to the final frame.
Two goals from Copeland sandwiched a goal from Didzbalis in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, and the game stayed 17-14 in favor of Tusculum into the final minute. First, Jaynes scored with 43 seconds left to cut the margin to two, and a goal from Copeland with 24 seconds left trimmed the Pioneer lead to 17-16. LMU would win another draw in their own end and came down field looking for the equalizer, but a slip on the turf on a final cut to the goal prevented any attempt at a tie.
Carolin-Vandenberg led the Pioneers with five ground balls and had four caused turnovers, with five ground balls and four draw controls by Jones. Nilsson added four ground balls, and Halladay matched Jones for the team lead with four draw controls. For LMU, Jaynes led the team with nine draw controls with seven for Ryan Smith, while Copeland had five ground balls and Mary Kostus had three ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Tusculum outshot Lincoln Memorial 39-32 in the match, while the Railsplitters held the edge in draws by a 19-16 margin. LMU outshot Tusculum 11-4 in the fourth quarter after the Pioneers had a 12-3 edge in the third.
Emily White made nine saves in goal for the Pioneers, while for the Railsplitters Emily Mirabile had 11 saves in the first three quarters and Jovie Favati added one in the fourth.
The Pioneers will be back in action on Wednesday, April 15 at 4 p.m. at UVA Wise. The Cavaliers will enter the weekend tied for third place in the SAC at 6-1 and holding a 12-2 overall record.
