Men’s Lacrosse – Pioneers Drop SAC Opener at Lenior-Rhyne
Ben Cash records three goals and an assist against the Bears
Ned Kaish recorded four goals and an assist to lead the Lenoir-Rhyne University men’s lacrosse team to a 16-6 win over visiting Tusculum College Sunday afternoon at Moretz Stadium in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams.
The Bears (1-2, 1-0 SAC) jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but had to hold off a third quarter charge by the Pioneers (0-3, 0-1 SAC) as Lenoir-Rhyne secured the victory.
L-R’s Ethan Tingler scored a pair of goals in the Bears’ eight-goal outburst in the opening half, including five scoring tallies in the second quarter by the home team.
Tusculum’s Jake Smith got the Pioneers on the board with 2:11 left before halftime with his first goal of 2015. Nate Wade notched his team-leading sixth goal of the year on the man-up advantage just before the intermission as TC trailed 8-2 heading to the locker room.
L-R’s Kaish scored his second goal of the game 16 seconds into the third quarter, before Tusculum’s Ben Boyd answered three minutes later with a goal. Kaish answered at the 6:25 mark with a goal, which was assisted by Taylor Thilo. Tusculum responded with back-to-back goals thanks to Boyd and Jack Timerson as TC trailed 10-5 with 5:02 left in the quarter.
The Bears scored three goals in a 56-second span to extend their lead to 13-5.
In the fourth quarter, Boyd notched his third goal of the contest, which was assisted by Steven Raimondi at the 10:33 mark. But the Bears would close out the game with three unanswered goals to provide the final margin of victory.
Raimondi finished the game with two assists, while goalie TC Kevin Haggerty recorded a dozen saves of the 50 shots he would face, while L-R goalie Alex Squires stopped five of the 20 shots he would take on by Tusculum.
Lenoir-Rhyne finished the game with 27 ground balls, including five hauled in by Collin Lett. Tusculum accounted for 18 ground balls, including a team-high four from Smith.
After playing its first three games on the road to start the season, the Pioneers will host Ohio Valley University this Saturday at noon in Tusculum’s home opener at Pioneer Field.
