PHILIPPI, W.Va. --- The Tusculum University men's lacrosse team opened its 2021 season with a 14-5 victory at Alderson Broaddus University Saturday afternoon.
Braden Elam finished with three goals and two assists, and Kale Lawrence and Nate Raymond each scored three goals for the Pioneers (1-0), who outscored the Battlers (0-1) 9-2 in the second half including a run of seven straight goals spanning the third and fourth quarters.
Nathan Fraser led Tusculum's dominance on faceoffs in the match, winning 14 of 16 and collecting 14 ground balls, the third-most in a game in program history. The Pioneers won 20 of 22 faceoffs in the match, helping Tusculum to a 38-21 advantage in shots and a 35-11 edge in ground balls.
Jordan Daniel scored two goals for the Pioneers, with Lorenz Brown collecting a goal and an assist. Tristan Kirkham and Josh Pickford each had a goal for the Pioneers, who received assists from Sean Dunn, Riley Burns and Luke Doehring in the win.
Conner Calmbacher led the Battlers with two goals, but AB never led and were outshot in the first, third and fourth quarters by a combined margin of 34-13.
Tusculum took an early 2-0 lead, as Elam scored the first goal of the season with 10:17 left in the first quarter, then assisted as Lawrence followed 44 seconds later. Tanner Delorme got the Battlers on the scoreboard with 7:15 left in the first quarter, but a goal from Kirkham with 1:00 remaining extended Tusculum's lead to 3-1 after one.
A man-up goal by Lawrence 57 seconds into the second quarter, assisted by Doehring, gave the Pioneers a 4-1 lead, and Pickford made it a 5-2 Tusculum lead off a Dunn assist with 4:30 to go in the half. The Pioneers would carry a 5-3 lead into halftime, after outshooting the Battlers 15-13 in the half and going 9-for-10 on faceoffs.
The teams went scoreless in the third quarter until the midway point, when Lawrence netted his third of the day off an assist by Brown to give the Pioneers a 6-3 advantage. Tusculum kept the Battlers off the scoreboard for what ended up being 16 1/2 minutes until Jackson Clement broke the drought with 2:19 left in the third, cutting the lead to 6-4. However, Daniel and Raymond scored in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to send the Pioneers to the fourth with an 8-4 advantage.
Energized by the two late goals in the third, the Pioneers tacked on two more in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, with Brown and Elam scoring 30 seconds apart for a 10-4 Tusculum lead with 11:54 left. Daniel, Brown and Raymond then scored in a span of 85 seconds to push the Pioneers ahead 13-4 with 6:56 to go. A goal from AB's Calmbacher snapped the Tusculum run at seven straight with 3:10 to go, but Raymond got his third of the half just eight seconds later, assisted by Burns, to close the scoring.
On defense, Connor Coleman had four ground balls and three caused turnovers, with two ground balls apiece for Addie Wilkins, Elam, Brown and Lawrence. Kashawn Shifflett paced the Battlers on defense with two ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Both teams finished 1-for-3 with the man advantage, while Tusculum was 14-for-17 on clears and Alderson Broaddus went 18-for-22.
In goal, Ross Geiger collected four saves to earn the win for the Pioneers. Noah Christopher played the first half between the pipes for the Battlers and Camdin Edge manned the goal in the second half, with each making four saves.
Tusculum will be on the road to face Chowan on Sunday, Feb. 14.
