Men’s Lacrosse scores late goal to edge Tusculum

Greeneville, Tenn. —- The Catawba College men's lacrosse team knocked off Tusculum on the road on Saturday, holding the Pioneers scoreless after Garrett Simi's game-winning goal with four and a half minutes remaining. The Catawba Indians improve to 2-8 overall and 2-4 in the South Atlantic Conference, while the Pioneers fall to 4-8 and 0-6 in league play.

Jackson Braswell led the Catawba offense with three goals and an assist. Simi had two goals including the game-winner in the fourth quarter. Nick DiBitetto won 10 of 15 face-offs and recorded six ground balls. James Crighton made six saves in goal, earning the winning decision. Tristan Kirkham led TU with five goals.

Catawba's Hunter Clarke started the scoring off for Catawba just over a minute into the game, but the Pioneers responded with back-to-back scores to take their first lead of the game. Braswell's first goal of the game at the 5:56 mark tied the game at 2. Kirkham gave the Pioneers a small lead again, but two straight goals from Caleb Richardson and Simi gave Catawba a 4-3 edge at the quarter break.

Braswell scored the lone goal of the second period with 11 seconds to go, as Catawba extended its lead to 5-3 after 30 minutes.

Tusculum scored four of the five goals in the third period, first tying the game at 5 with back-to-back scores in under a minute. After Braswell regained the lead for Catawba with a goal at the 6:19 mark, the Pioneers scored two straight goals to take their first lead of the second half, carrying a 7-6 advantage into the final period.

Maxwell scored again in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 7, but Kirkham struck again to swing the lead back in Tusculum's favor. Jordan Dash and Bakari Neely found the back of the net less than 90 seconds apart to retake the lead at the 8-minute mark. Kirkham re-tied the game a minute later but Simi's goal at the 4:21 mark proved to be the game-winner as Catawba's defense held off the Pioneers for the road victory.

The team returns to action in a week, traveling to No. 18 Newberry next Saturday, April 8 at 4 p.m.