GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Juliette Cusano scored seven goals to become the all-time leader in career goals at Tusculum University as the Pioneers defeated Southern Wesleyan University 17-7 in their women's lacrosse season opener Sunday at Pioneer Field.
Tia Tuininga added four goals, Emily Youngblood scored three times and Kylie Marek chipped in with a pair of goals for the Pioneers (1-0), who outscored the Warriors (0-3) by a 13-3 margin in the second half after the teams played to a 4-4 deadlock in the opening half. Harley Smith also scored for the Pioneers, while Eliza Ryan had two assists and finished with a career-high five caused turnovers. Tusculum outshot Southern Wesleyan 39-12 and forced the Warriors into 25 turnovers.
Cusano entered the season one goal shy of tying the program career record of 139 goals set by Savannah Elliott from 2015-18, and scored the record-tying goal just 38 seconds into the match. She would score the record-breaker on a free-position shot with 4:45 left in the first half to tie the match at 4-4, then added five goals in the second half to finish the afternoon with 145 career goals. Cusano, who scored in her 40th straight game dating back to her freshman season in 2017, was already Tusculum's career leader in shots, game-winning goals and free-position goals before adding the goals record to her resume.
Amy Pfefferkorn led the Warriors with four goals on five shots, with two goals from Tabitha Beecher and one from Haylee Cureton. Southern Wesleyan led 3-2 and 4-3 in the first half, but gave up six goals in the first nine minutes of the second half as Tusculum built a 10-4 lead.
After Cusano's first goal, Marek scored 12 seconds later to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead just 50 seconds into the match. The Warriors recovered to take a 3-2 lead on a goal by Pfefferkorn with 16:28 left in the half, but Tuininga tied the game at 3-3 just 24 seconds later. Pfefferkorn's third goal of the half put the Warriors back in front 4-3 with 5:09 to play in the half, but Cusano's record-breaking goal came just 24 seconds later and sent the teams to halftime knotted at 4-4.
Tusculum poured on the offense in the second half, taking the lead for good at 5-4 on a Tuininga goal with 28:10 remaining in the match. Marek, Youngblood and Cusano followed with goals in a two-minute span, and Cusano added two more as the Pioneers went up 10-4 with 21:23 to play. Back-to-back goals from Beecher and Pfefferkorn brought the Warriors within 10-6, but Tusculum answered with two apiece from Cusano and Tuininga to regain a 14-6 advantage with 13:07 left. Cureton closed the scoring for Southern Wesleyan with 10:56 left, before a goal from Smith and two from Youngblood in the final 7 1/2 minutes set the final margin.
Tusculum had a 25-12 lead in ground balls in the match, paced by Ryan's four and three apiece from Cusano and Hailey Sanders. Jairy Sandoval led Southern Wesleyan with five ground balls, six draw controls and five caused turnovers, while Betsy Bovee had four ground balls for the Warriors. Cusano accounted for 10 of the Pioneers' 17 draw controls in the match, with three to Kamryn McNeil and two for Ryan. Tusculum had 14 caused turnovers in the match, with two apiece for Tuininga and Cusano to go along with the five from Ryan.
The Pioneers finished 13-for-15 on clear attempts, while the Warriors were just 11-for-24 on clears including 4-for-9 in the second half. The Pioneers outshot the Warriors 27-6 in the second half and had a 28-11 in shots on goal for the match.
Kate Pipkin came on in relief in goal for the Pioneers in the first half and finished with three saves after Caroline Monroe had one in the first 11 minutes. Kaeleigh McDaniel played all 60 minutes in goal for Southern Wesleyan and made 11 saves.
Tusculum will open its South Atlantic Conference schedule on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Mars Hill beginning at 4 p.m.
