GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's lacrosse team opened its South Atlantic Conference schedule with an 11-6 victory over Catawba College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Liberty Jones and Elisha Stack had three goals apiece for the Pioneers (4-2, 1-0 SAC), who outshot the Indians (2-2, 0-1 SAC) by a 32-21 margin and did not trail from the opening five minutes. Mackenzie Sherrod scored two goals, with one goal apiece from Jessie Carolin-Vandenberg, Mya Halladay and Nina Tantillo.
Abby Shuren had two goals for Catawba, with one goal apiece from Mary Sorvillo, Joey Baillie, Kylie Harris and Skylar Mullin. The Indians were held to just two goals in the second half by the Pioneers and a total of four goals over the final 56 minutes.
In addition to her three goals, Jones had four draw controls and four caused turnovers while Carolin-Vandenberg had three ground balls and four caused turnovers. Halladay finished with six ground balls, six draw controls and two caused turnovers for the Pioneers, who held a 13-8 advantage in draw controls over the Indians. For Catawba, Harris had four draw controls while Allison Filosa finished with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
The teams combined for five goals in the first 4 1/2 minutes, with two goals from Stack and one from Jones giving the Pioneers the early 3-2 lead. Jones netted her second midway through the quarter and Sherrod added one as the Pioneers led 5-2 after one quarter.
Neither team scored for the first nine minutes of the second quarter until Mullin broke through for Catawba with 5:45 remaining. Halladay scored with 2:55 to play to push the Tusculum lead back to 6-3, and Shuren and Tantillo exchanged goals in the final minute as Tusculum led 7-4 at the half.
Catawba could muster just one goal in the third quarter, as a tally from Sorvillo midway through the period was sandwiched by goals from Sherrod and Carolin-Vandenberg as the Pioneers led 9-5 after three quarters. Stack and Jones would stretch the Tusculum lead to 11-5 with 8:37 to go before Shuren capped the scoring with 3:08 left.
The Indians had a slim 20-19 lead in the turnover category while both teams had 22 ground balls. Catawba was 15-for-18 on clear attempts while Tusculum was 15-for-24 as a team on clears.
Both keepers played the entire game and finished with 10 saves, as Emily White made six of her stops in the second half for Tusculum while Ava Kunza had five saves in each half for Catawba.
The Pioneers will be back home to face Newberry on Saturday, March 8 at 4 p.m. The Wolves improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the SAC with a 14-12 road victory over UVA Wise on Saturday.
