ALAMOSA, Colo. — Wesley Phillips collected a career-high 10 points and Chase Penner tallied six goals to lead Tusculum University to a 17-13 victory at Adams State University in non-conference men’s lacrosse on Thursday.
Clay Mendez added four goals and Blake Harrison had two goals and three assists for the Pioneers (2-14), who outscored the Grizzlies (1-11) by a 12-3 margin across the second and third quarters. Bryce Grimball also scored for the Pioneers, who were outshot 47-42 by the Grizzlies but won 19 of 33 faceoffs.
Phillips’ 10 points came on four goals and six assists and mark the sixth time in program history that a Pioneer has scored 10 or more points in a game. His six assists tied his career high set twice against Coker, in 2022 and again on March 30 of this season. Phillips finished the season with a team-high 55 points (28 goals, 27 assists).
Dawson Balabanoff led the Grizzlies with five goals and an assist, with two goals apiece from Kris Owens and Brett Carberry. Adams State led briefly on three occasions in the first quarter, then attempted to rally in the fourth by scoring six of the final seven goals of the match.
The Grizzlies took a 2-1 lead on a pair of goals by Balabanoff in the first 6 1/2 minutes, but the Pioneers went on top 3-2 on goals from Penner and Mendez less than a minute apart. After Adams State went back ahead 4-3 with 2:33 left in the first quarter, Phillips scored his second of the game with 1:46 to tie the game at 4-4.
The Pioneers took the lead for good at 5-4 on a goal from Penner with 11:15 left in the second quarter, and stretched their lead to 8-5 on goals from Grimball and Penner. The Grizzlies moved back within 8-6 with 3:04 left in the half, but Phillips and Penner scored in the final 40 seconds to give Tusculum a 10-6 advantage at intermission.
Tusculum pulled away in the third quarter as goals from Mendez and Phillips put the Pioneers on top 12-6 with 10:41 left in the period. A goal from Owens brought Adams State within 12-7 with 8:58 remaining, but the Pioneers got two goals apiece from Penner and Harrison to go up 16-7 entering the fourth.
Adams State cut the deficit to 16-9 on two goals from Balabanoff in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but Mendez put Tusculum back on top 17-9 with 11:13 to play. The Grizzlies would score four goals in the final five minutes to close the gap, but a series of penalties in the final 90 seconds allowed the Pioneers to run out the clock.
Nathan Fraser went 15-for-25 on faceoffs and had a game-high nine ground balls for the Pioneers, while Phillips had five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Justin Peterson won 13 faceoffs for the Grizzlies and collected six ground balls to lead Adams State.
Tusculum was 1-for-5 with the extra man while Adams State was 2-for-8 with the man advantage. The Pioneers finished 22-for-27 on clears and had 15 turnovers, with Adams State going 22-for-23 on clears and turning the ball over 17 times. Adams State led in ground balls over Tusculum by a 28-22 margin.
Nick Adams played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and finished with seven saves, with Ryan Berger posting 11 saves for the Grizzlies.
