HICKORY, N.C. --- Top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne University scored 12 straight goals after falling behind early and defeated Tusculum University 20-8 in the South Atlantic Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship semifinals Friday at Moretz Stadium.
Playing on their home field, the sixth-ranked Bears (12-1) advanced to Sunday's championship game by outshooting the fourth-seeded Pioneers (7-5) by a 55-21 margin. Toron Eccleston led the Bears with five goals and an assist, and SAC Player of the Year Eric Dickinson and Myles Moffat each had three goals and four assists as 10 different players scored goals in the victory.
Braden Elam, Lorenz Brown and Sean Dunn each scored two goals for the Pioneers, who also received goals from Nash Johnson and Nate Raymond. Jordan Daniel, Luke Doehring and Raymond all had assists for Tusculum, which won 15 faceoffs to 17 for Lenoir-Rhyne and did not commit a penalty in the contest.
The Pioneers jumped to an early 2-0 lead, with Elam scoring the first goal just 19 seconds into the first quarter off a pass from Raymond before adding his second of the day with 12:17 left in the quarter. Tusculum's defense kept Lenoir-Rhyne off the scoreboard until Dickinson scored with 3:26 remaining in the period, sparking a three-goal run over a span of 89 seconds which gave the Bears a 3-2 lead with 1:57 left in the quarter.
The Bears continued their run to start the second quarter, as Dickinson assisted on a goal by Bryce Reece and then scored his second of the game for a 5-2 Lenoir-Rhyne lead with 12:16 left in the first half. Goals 15 seconds apart from Moffat and Evan Torris stretched the Bears' lead to 7-2 with 6:50 to play in the half, and Eccleston collected his first of the day for an 8-2 Lenoir-Rhyne lead with 4:33 remaining. Moffat scored his third of the match with 1:40 left and the Bears added three more in the final 30 seconds to take a 12-2 lead to halftime.
The Pioneers broke their scoring drought as Dunn scored 1:33 into the third quarter. Brown added a goal off an assist from Doehring with 8:10 to play in the quarter, but Eccleston scored twice in 80 seconds and Mitchell Linklater added a goal as the Bears took a 16-4 lead into the fourth.
Two more goals stretched the Bears' lead to 18-4 before Raymond got his first of the afternoon off an assist from Jordan Daniel with 11:25 to play. Nash Johnson added a goal with 9:26 to go just 15 seconds after Eccleston's fifth goal of the match, which left the Bears with a 19-6 lead. Dunn tacked on another goal with 8:37 to go, and Brown closed out the scoring for the Pioneers with 18 seconds remaining.
Johnson and Andy Michalski shared the team high in ground balls for the Pioneer with five, with Michalski going 9-for-21 on faceoffs. Connor Coleman had two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers, giving him a new program single-season record of 24 caused turnovers which broke the old mark of 23 set by Mitch Chapman in 2014.
Linklater had a game-high eight ground balls to go along with a goal and three assists for the Bears. Zach Bodeau had five ground balls and was 11-for-16 on faceoffs, and Victor Powell contributed four ground balls and three caused turnovers for Lenoir-Rhyne. Tusculum committed 23 turnovers as a team, 11 which were caused by the Bears' defense.
Ross Geiger started for the Pioneers in goal and made nine saves before giving way to Shawn Smith, who played the final 5 1/2 minutes. Noah Johnson had nine saves and gave up four goals for the Bears, with CJ Impagliazzo and Cullin Walsh splitting time in the fourth quarter.
