ROME, Ga. --- Tusculum College's Nate Wade tied a program single-game record with his five-goal performance as the Pioneers routed host Shorter University 23-6 Saturday afternoon.
The 23-goal outburst is tied for the second most in Tusculum history as nine different Pioneers found their way into the scoring column.
Tusculum (2-1) scored the first 13 goals of the contest as the Hawks (0-3) did not find the back of the cage until Austin Zumbado scored on a man-up opportunity with 6:17 left in the second quarter.
During TC's 13-0 run, Nate Wade accounted for four goals, while teammate Chris Ryan added three scoring tallies. Tusculum led 7-0 after the first quarter and scored the first six goals of the second period to jump out to the 13-0 lead. TC led 14-1 at halftime and outscored Shorter 8-1 in the third period, including the final seven goals of the frame.
Ryan finished with four goals for a second straight game. Dallas Wade and Cam Rogers notched three goals apiece, while Tyler Klarner and Liam MacDonald had two goals each. Ryan added two assists to give him a career-best six points which are tied for the third-most in TC history. Nate (5 goals) and Dallas Wade (3 goals, 2 assists) tied for second on the team with five points apiece.
Tusculum goalie Kevin Haggerty allowed one goal and made three saves in his 30 minutes of play. The trio of Ryan Pickering (1 GA, 2 saves, 13:18), Will Bender (1 GA, 1 save, 8:38) and Matthew Petraglia (3 GA, 1 save, 8:04) finished out the game in the second half.
The Pioneers outshot the Hawks by a 54-25 margin, including 17-4 in the opening quarter. TC also had a 34-21 advantage in groundballs with Charles Mills coming up with a team-best five, while Nate Wade accounted for four.
Tusculum finished the match with 10 assists, which are tied for fourth-most in the school record book while the 20 face-offs won are third in school history with Preston Gallagher (10-of-19) and Conrad Carney III (8-10) leading the charge.
Tusculum returns home next Saturday when they host Walsh University for a 1 p.m. contest at Pioneer Field.
