Women's Lacrosse falls late to Tusculum in SAC opener

Salisbury, N.C. – The Catawba College Women's Lacrosse team dropped a close contest against the Tusculum Pioneers on Wednesday night to open their 2024 conference slate, falling by a pair of late goals as the Pioneers took a late fourth-quarter lead for a 12-10 win.

TEAM STATS

- Tusculum outshot Catawba 27-24, though Catawba would convert more of their free position attempts as they went 3-7 to 2-4 for the Pioneers

- Tusculum won the battle on draws, 17 to 8, through Catawba would recover more ground balls by a 23-21 margin

- Catawba dominated the turnover battle, forcing 27 Tusculum giveaways while turning it over just 16 times themselves

- In goal, Tusculum's Emily White posted 11 saves on 21 shots to earn the win, moving to 3-3. Catawba's Evie Kaserud produced seven saves on 19 shots, but fell to 1-4 in the losing effort

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Abby Shuren's emergence as an offensive threat for Catawba continued, as for the third time in five games this season the freshman forward led Catawba in goals with her second hat trick of the season to bring her season total to 13. Sarah Maier and Mary Sorvillo each netted a pair of goals

- Kylie Harris recorded the only assist of the afternoon for Catawba

- Joey Baillie controlled three draws in the effort, with Maier corralling two of her own

- Madi Shaffer led all players with 6 ground ball recoveries. Baillie would collect four, and Sorvillo notched three

- Defensively, Mackenzie Mullan tied for the lead with three caused turnovers, while Shaffer and Jenna Hirvonen each forced a pair as well

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST QUARTER

- Catawba opened the game on the front foot, with Sorvillo drawing first blood after just 1:38 on a move through the middle of the defense

- It would take a while for the scoring to get going again, with Hirvonen ending just over five scoreless minutes with her second goal in as many games, this one from a free position shot

- Tusculum would finally find their own breakthrough after nearly 10 minutes, with Lucy Brewer scoring the first of her five goals on the afternoon with 5:33 to go. Kylie Marek tied the game up not too long after, with 3:58 to play in the first frame

- Catawba would respond through Maier, who bagged a pair of goals just 1:29 apart to restore Catawba's two-goal lead at 4-2 with 1:37 to play and tie her career high in a game

- With :29 seconds to go, the Pioneers were able to cut the lead back to one through Alyssa Holden

SECOND QUARTER

- Sorvillo wasted no time in giving Catawba their third two-goal lead of the game just :47 seconds into the second period with a press position shot, though again Brewer was on hand to cut the lead to 5-4 at the 12:33 mark

- For the fourth time, Catawba had an answer in the form of a brace; Caroline Cox and Shuren struck twice in just over two minutes, with Shuren's goal at the 6:22 mark making it 7-4 Catawba

- Cassidy Bourne snapped an over eight minute drought for Tusculum by finding a way past Kaserud with 4:23 to go. Brewer struck for her hat-trick just :42 seconds later on a free-position shot, pulling the Pioneers back to within one at 6-7

- Shuren bagged her second goal not long after, ensuring that Catawba headed to halftime up two with a finish at 2:04 left in the quarter, 8-6

THIRD QUARTER

- Mullan cashed in a free position shot to give Catawba its second lead by three goals with 11:59 to go in the quarter, 9-6

- That would be where the Pioneers' would click into gear, proceeding to outscore Catawba 6-1 over the final 18:01 minutes of the game

- Brewer scored her fourth and fifth of the night before and after Marek also found the back of the net, as Tusculum tied the game 9-9 with 4:33 to go in the quarter

- Catawba would head into the final intermission with the lead however, as Shuren broke the run with her third goal of the game to make it 10-9 Catawba heading into the final quarter

FOURTH QUARTER

- Tusculum would lock things down in the fourth period, however, as they held Catawba scoreless over the duration of all 15:00

- Liberty Jones would tie the game at 10-10 with 9:27 to go, and while both teams battled for the next five minutes to break the deadlock, it would be Tusculum's Abby Lockwood who put the game away with two goals in a minute from 4:28 to 3:28 for the final of 12-10, Pioneers

UP NEXT

- Catawba Women's Lacrosse is back in action on Saturday, hitting the road for two non-conference games with a visit to Palm Beach Atlantic currently slated for 3 p.m.