BANNER ELK, N.C. — Second-half goals from Andrew Eneme and Carlos Perez helped Tusculum University to a 2-0 victory at Lees-McRae College in non-conference men’s soccer Tuesday night from Tate Field.
Eneme scored in the 53rd minute and Perez added an insurance goal in the 80th minute as the Pioneers (5-7-1) handed the Bobcats (3-5-7) their first home loss of the season.
Noe Delmotte collected his fifth shutout of the season by making five saves in goal for the Pioneers, who have won three straight road matches — all by shutout — and have not allowed a goal in the last 323 minutes, 16 seconds away from Pioneer Field.
Tusculum outshot Lees-McRae by a 13-8 margin, with Sean Green making four saves for the Bobcats. The Pioneers had a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks, and Tusculum was called for 13 fouls to 10 for Lees-McRae.
The Pioneers had the first five shot attempts of the match, with Green collecting saves on Hugo Le Floch in the second minute and Filippo Canaletich in the 16th minute. The Bobcats’ first shot came from Santi Balza in the 20th minute, and Delmotte’s first save came on a shot from Balza in the 26th minute.
Tusculum took a 1-0 lead at 52:44 as a long cross from Le Floch went to Eneme, who put home his first goal of the season. Six minutes later, the Bobcats nearly got the equalizer but a shot from Landon Robbins went off the crossbar.
Perez stretched the Tusculum lead to 2-0 at 79:22 as he collected a cross from Mason Clark and beat Green with his first goal of the season on what would be the final shot of the night for either team. Clark extended his streak of matches with a point to four in a row with the assist.
The Pioneers will visit Lenoir-Rhyne for a South Atlantic Conference match with the Bears on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. The Bears are in fourth place in the SAC with 14 points (4-2-2), while the Pioneers will enter Saturday’s match with seven points for a three-way tie with Newberry and Carson-Newman for the eighth and final spot in the SAC Tournament with two league matches to go.
