GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University went on an 11-1 scoring run and picked up a 19-10 victory over Chowan University in non-conference men's lacrosse Wednesday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Tysen Fontenla scored four goals, Ben Royer had three goals and three assists, and Preston Stewart added three goals for the Pioneers (2-2), who outshot the Hawks (0-4) by a 43-34 margin and forced Chowan into 31 turnovers as a team.
Jacob Malia led Chowan with four goals and an assist while Seth Mackenzie had a goal and two assists, but the Hawks were held to one goal in a 30-minute span from the end of the first quarter to the end of the third as Tusculum built an 18-5 lead.
Stewart, Fontenla and Royer combined for seven straight goals for the Pioneers to end the third quarter and start the fourth, with Royer accounting for a pair of assists during the run. Ben Hobday had two goals and an assists for the Pioneers, with two goals apiece for Jayden Thomas and Clay Mendez and a goal and three assists from Luke Bowen. Ezequel Ceant and Drake Vance also scored for the Pioneers in the win.
Tusculum fell behind 1-0 on a man-up goal from Reed Low just 1:26 into the match, but goals from Fontenla and Ceant in a span of 22 seconds put the Pioneers up 2-1 with 11:12 left. After a goal from the Hawks' C.J. Hinton tied the game just 4 1/2 minutes into the contest, the Pioneers scored three straight from Hobday, Mendez and Fontenla en route to a 6-3 lead after one quarter.
The Pioneers shut out the Hawks in the second quarter, with goals from Thomas, Mendez and Hobday putting Tusculum ahead 9-3 at intermission. Leading 10-4 with 10:52 remaining in the period, the Pioneers scored six straight goals to go up 16-4 on a goal from Fontenla with 1:20 to go.
In the fourth quarter, the Pioneers went ahead 18-5 on a goal from Vance before the Hawks scored four in a row, including three from Malia, to pull within 18-9 with 4:26 remaining. Bowen capped the scoring for the Pioneers just eight seconds after Malia's third goal, with Thomas Rohal getting the final goal of the day for Chowan with 1:17 left.
Ceant, making his season debut for the Pioneers, won 17 faceoffs and collected 11 ground balls for the Pioneers, with Jamie Thomson and Jesse Brown each claiming four ground balls. Blake Harrison had two ground balls and three caused turnovers for Tusculum in the victory. Rohal was 5-for-6 on faceoffs and had five ground balls for Chowan, with Harry Edwards leading the Hawks with six ground balls and Michael Litchfield adding five.
Tusculum was 28-for-33 on clears in the match while Chowan was 19-for-26 as a team. The Hawks were 3-for-6 on extra-man opportunities while the Pioneers were 1-for-3 with Fontenla cashing in during the third quarter. Tusculum had a 43-34 advantage in ground balls.
Brenden Pecora had seven saves in 49 minutes of playing time for the Pioneers, with Alex Germain making one stop in the final 11 minutes. Rocco Smith started in goal for the Hawks and had 14 saves in three quarters, followed by Corey Smith with two saves in the final period.
Tusculum will open its South Atlantic Conference schedule on Saturday, March 1 when 20th-ranked Catawba visits Pioneer Field. The Indians are off to a 4-0 start, including a 20-6 win over Chowan in their season opener, and are allowing just 7.5 goals per game through four contests.
