BANNER ELK, N.C. — Luke Bowen scored five goals and added five assists and Tusculum University scored six man-up goals in an 18-14 victory at Lees-McRae College in non-conference men’s lacrosse Wednesday afternoon.
Ben Royer scored four goals and had three assists and Tysen Fontenla scored three goals for the Pioneers (3-3), whose six man-up goals were one shy of the program single-game record set three previous times.
Bowen’s 10 points are tied for the third-most in a single game in program history, while Royer’s seven points were a career high. Fontenla and Bowen each scored twice with the extra man, with Preston Stewart and Jayden Thomas also scoring man-up goals for the Pioneers.
Cole Morris led the Bobcats (2-4) with seven goals and an assist, and Spence Combs had three goals and three assists for Lees-McRae. The Bobcats were outshot 45-30 by the Pioneers and had 21 turnovers to 16 for the Pioneers.
The Bobcats went up 1-0 on an early goal from Kaleb Parkhurst, but man-up goals from Bowen and Thomas pushed the Pioneers up 3-1 with four minutes to play in the quarter. Parkhurst netted his second goal of the quarter with 2:25 left to leave the Bobcats down 3-2 after one period.
Tusculum scored its third man-up goal as Stewart connected 42 seconds into the second quarter for a 4-2 lead, but three goals in just under two minutes sent Lees-McRae back in front 5-4 with 11:53 remaining. Stewart scored his second of the quarter to tie the game with 10:01 to go, but Morris scored three times in 86 seconds as the Bobcats took a 9-5 lead with 5:02 left. A goal from Royer and two from Bowen pulled Tusculum within 9-8 with 1:02 to go. but Morris answered with his sixth of the quarter 10 seconds later as the Bobcats went to the half with a 10-8 lead.
After falling behind 11-8, the Pioneers tied the game as a pair of goals from Royer was followed by a goal from Clay Mendez that leveled the score at 11-11 with 6:28 to go in the third quarter. The Bobcats would regain the lead at 12-11 on a goal from Combs with 5:07 remaining, but Mendez and Fontenla tallied just over a minute apart as the Pioneers carried a 13-12 lead into the final period.
Morris tied the game at 13-13 for the Bobcats with 13:41 left, but Royer would give the Pioneers the lead for good with 11:55 remaining. Goals from Fontenla, Ben Hobday and Bowen would stretch Tusculum’s lead to 17-13 with 6:46 to play, and Fontenla would close the scoring with the Pioneers’ sixth man-up goal of the day with 2:31 left.
Mendez had two goals for the Pioneers, with a goal and two assist from Hobday and two goals and an assist from Stewart. Thomas contributed a goal and an assist for Tusculum, which had a 41-37 advantage in ground balls.
Each team won 17 faceoffs on the afternoon, with the Pioneers’ Ezequel Ceant winning 15 and collecting nine ground balls and the Bobcats’ Dryden Murrell picking up 16 wins and seven ground balls.
Royer had five ground balls for the Pioneers and a pair of caused turnovers, with four ground balls for Bowen and two ground balls and two caused turnovers for Jesse Brown.
Brenden Pecora made 10 saves in goal for the Pioneers, with Eddie Patterson finishing with nine saves for the Bobcats. Tusculum was 16-for-21 on clear attempts, and Lees-McRae was 15-for-22 on clears in the match.
The Pioneers return to South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday, March 8 when 19th-ranked Newberry visits Pioneer Field for a 1 p.m. start. The Wolves (3-2), who have won three straight games, will be playing their SAC opener.
