#20 Men’s Lacrosse denies comeback in 14-12 victory at Tusculum

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The Catawba College men's lacrosse team resisted a late surge from Tusculum in its South Atlantic Conference opener on Saturday, notching a 14-12 win over the Pioneers to remain undefeated.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba (5-0, 1-0 SAC) stacked up 46 shots, totaling 29 on goal, against the Pioneers' (2-3, 0-1 SAC) 38 shots including 25 on-target deliveries

- The blue and white trailed in ground balls (34-30) and lost the turnover battle (19-17), both first-time occurrences this season

- Tusculum enjoyed a 24-for-28 performance on the clear – 8-for-8 in the fourth quarter – compared to Catawba's 17-for-23 mark

- Cael Petroff continued his streak of breaking .500 on faceoffs, winning 16-of-28 duels; Ezequel Ceant was victorious 11 times while Drake Vance prevailed once for Tusculum

- Brady Gauntner posted a .520 save percentage with 13 stops for the Catawba Indians, rivaling the .517 day and 15 saves from TU's Brenden Pecora

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Tanner Stout led the way on offense, accounting for five goals with three scores and a pair of assists

- Frank Cetrone found paydirt on each of his three on-net shots for hat trick No. 3 in 2025

- Andrew Crumpacker, Devin Trzeciak and Garrett Simi each found the back of the net twice to total five Catawba Indians with multiple goals, the team's most through five contests

- Petroff collected six ground balls while Jack Butler led the defensive unit with five pickups; Eli Teefy, in a career-best outing, and Owen Conway nabbed four apiece

- Teefy, Conway and Eric Fruge each logged a caused turnover

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

- Pecora refused both of Catawba's shots on goal in the initial minutes before the defense forced a turnover, flipping the field for a Jayden Thomas strike to get the hosts on the board first

- Cetrone gathered the loose ball during the ensuing faceoff and started to set up the offense, but he found an opening and instead scurried to the doorstep to deliver the tying strike

- Crumpacker took the lead with an unassisted dart, then Stout added insurance off a helper from Jordan Dash

- Tyson Fontenla brought the gap down to one a minute later, but Turner swiftly responded to balance it out; Ben Hobday countered with Tusculum's second goal in 1:14

- Catawba received darts from Cetrone and Trzeciak inside the final minute, closing a wild end to the first stanza in 6-3 fashion

Second Quarter

- Following an unsuccessful possession from the Pioneers to begin the half, Jack Mercer connected with Stout to increase the lead to 7-3

- Stout tacked on his second assist as Trzeciak tallied his second goal, widening the Pioneer deficit to five

- After Gauntner's third save in four minutes, Fontenla secured the rebound and tossed it to Ben Royer to finish the job as Tusculum also earned an extra-man opportunity

- A blocked shot was recovered by Teefy, allowing Catawba to kill the penalty shortly before Simi weaved past a defender and scored with a shot to the top shelf

- The Pioneers reduced the gap to three on goals from Preston Stewart and Hobday, making it a 9-6 lead for the visitors at halftime

Third Quarter

- Pecora recorded three saves to open the half, but a diving delivery from Hunter Clarke had minimal chance of being stopped as the Canadian sophomore gained his second goal of 2025

- Tusculum summoned payback in the form of Royer and Hobday strikes, bringing the difference down to 10-8

- Dylan McQuarrie secured possession on the next duel as good ball movement in the attacking half resulted in Simi launching another upper-deck dart

- Missing high and wide three times, the Catawba Indians struck again with a fadeaway jump shot from Cetrone to further cushion their lead

Fourth Quarter

- Fontenla and Stout exchanged goals to begin quarter No. 4, setting the stage for another up-tempo period

- Thomas intercepted a pass deep in Catawba's defensive zone and let off a shot that tickled the twine to make it a three-goal game with 10 minutes to play

- Further exploiting Catawba Indian errors, Fontenla and Hobday turned two takeaways into goals as TU chopped the visitors' edge down to one

- The Pioneers won the following faceoff but turned it over moments later; Catawba made it hurt as Crumpacker finished off a full sprint by tossing the rock past Pecora for the dagger

- Gauntner ended Tusculum's final possession with a save, helping Catawba successfully fend off the Pioneers to keep the undefeated streak alive

UP NEXT

The Catawba Indians return to Shuford Stadium on Saturday, Mar. 8 to face first-year program Emory & Henry at 4 p.m.