FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. --- Emmanuel University defeated Tusculum University 18-14 in non-conference men's lacrosse Wednesday afternoon.
Jared Weiss scored five goals, Ryland Laturell had four goals and an assist and Griffin Gibson-Thomas collected three goals and four assists for the Lions (3-2), who outscored the Pioneers (1-2) 12-7 in the second half after trailing 7-6 at halftime.
Preston Stewart and Tysen Fontenla each had three goals and an assist for the Pioneers, who received two goals and three assists from Luke Bowen and two goals apiece from Clay Mendez and Ben Hobday. Grayson Collins and Jayden Thomas also had goals for the Pioneers, who were outshot 39-35 as a team and gave up four extra-man goals in eight opportunities to the Lions.
Tusculum scored the first two goals from Stewart and Bowen in the opening seven minutes, and went up 3-1 on a man-down goal from Collins with 2:21 left in the opening quarter. A man-up goal by Gibson-Thomas with 1:19 left in the period cut Emmanuel's deficit to 3-2.
The Pioneers went up 5-2 early in the second quarter on goals from Stewart and Fontenla, who scored three goals in the quarter to help the Pioneers to a 7-4 lead with 4:26 to play. However, Emmanuel would score twice in the final minute of the quarter to pull within 7-6 at intermission.
Emmanuel opened the third quarter with four goals in the first five minutes to take a 10-7 lead before Mendez scored with 7:03 left to snap the six-goal run by the Lions. Goals from Laturell and Weiss would push the Emmanuel lead to 12-8 entering the final period.
Stewart cut the deficit to 12-9 in the first minute of the fourth, but another 4-0 run from the Lions would give Emmanuel its largest lead at 16-9 with 8:14 to go. The Pioners would respond with consecutive goals from Hobday, Thomas and Mendez to trim the deficit to 16-12 with 3:21 left, part of a barrage that saw the teams combine for five goals in a little over two minutes.
Blake Harrison led the Pioneer defense with four caused turnovers along with seven ground balls, while Jesse Brown had three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls. Drake Vance won 14 faceoffs and had three ground balls for the Pioneers. For Emmanuel, Kyler Andrews had 17 faceoff wins and eight ground balls, with three ground balls and two caused turnovers for Graeson Amundson.
Brenden Pecora finished with eight saves in goal for the Pioneers, with two saves for Garrett Smith. Grady Magruder finished with nine saves for the Lions.
Tusculum is scheduled to host Thomas More on Saturday, Feb. 22 at noon at Pioneer Field. The Saints dropped their season opener 19-13 to Montevallo on Saturday.
