EMORY, Va. — The Tusculum University men’s lacrosse team closed out the 2026 season with a 21-9 victory over Emory & Henry University in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday night.
Luke Bowen had four goals and six assists and Ben Royer contributed four goals and five assists for the Pioneers (8-6, 3-6 SAC), who wrapped up a winning season by holding the Wasps (1-13, 0-9 SAC) to a total of one goal in the second and fourth quarters combined.
Preston Stewart collected three goals for the Pioneers, with two goals and two assists from Traford Couchman and two goals from Aidan Villano. Zach Afalla had a goal and two assists, with one goal apiece from Tysen Fontenla, Drew DiMondo, Carter McIntyre, Alex Goodwin and Clay Mendez.
The goal from Mendez with 2:37 left in the fourth quarter was the 100th point in his career at Tusculum (66 goals, 34 assists).
Gavin Starling led the Wasps with two goals and three assists, with two goals apiece from David Mewes, Jackson Jones and Dany Nguyen. Emory & Henry had 46 shot attempts to 55 for Tusculum, but the Pioneers were 21-for-32 on faceoffs in the match.
The teams were tied 2-2 with five minutes left in the first half, but Afalla, Villano, Bowen and Fontenla scored in a span of 3 1/2 minutes to give Tusculum a 6-2 lead. DiMondo, Stewart and Bowen added goals in the second quarter to stretch the Pioneer advantage to 9-3 at intermission.
In the third quarter, the teams combined for 13 goals with Royer posting three goals and an assist and Bowen tallying a goal and two assists in the quarter. The Pioneers tacked on five goals in the fourth quarter, including goals from Goodwin and McIntyre.
Jayden Rios went 16-for-23 on faceoffs and had five ground balls for the Pioneers, with Jake Kent also adding five ground balls. Bowen and Blake Harrison each had four ground balls and two caused turnovers, with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers by Alden Lyman.
Jones and Jaxon Blackshear each had five ground balls to lead the Wasps with four ground balls from Isaiah Ward. Emory & Henry was 24-for-28 on clears and turned the ball over 20 times in the match.
Tusculum went 0-for-1 with the extra man in the match, with Emory & Henry finishing 1-for-3 as a team.
Garrett Smith played the first three quarters in goal for the Pioneers and had seven saves, with Ryan McKeown (four saves) and Alex Germain (two saves) combining for a scoreless fourth quarter. AJ Cakir had 11 saves for the Wasps with nine saves from Mason Buttery.
Tusculum’s eight wins are an improvement of three victories from the 2025 season, with five of the Pioneers’ six losses coming to teams ranked 14th or higher in the USILA Division II poll.
