EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry University Men's Lacrosse Team (1-13, 0-9 SAC) fell in its final South Atlantic Conference game of the 2026 season at home to Tusculum University (8-6, 3-6 SAC) Wednesday night. Tusculum ran out to a 9-3 halftime lead and put up five fourth quarter goals to seal the 21-9 win.
The Basics
FINAL SCORE – Tusculum 21, Emory & Henry 9
LOCATION – Emory, Virginia
VENUE – Food City Sports Complex
RECORDS – Emory & Henry (1-13, 0-9 SAC); Tusculum (8-6, 3-6 SAC)
How It Happened
- The Pioneers put up the first two goals of the contest, but the Wasps had an answer. Sophomore midfielder David Mewes (Greenville, S.C.) capitalized on the man-up advantage for his first goal of the night on an assist from freshman attack Gavin Starling (McKinney, Texas) at the 7:35 mark, then Starling found the back of the net just over two minutes later on a helper from junior attack Jacob Mills (Culpeper, Va.) to tie the game at 2-2. Tusculum would score four unanswered goals to close out the quarter for a 6-2 lead. TU continued its run to start the second, scoring three more goals to push the advantage out to 9-2. Freshman defender Brayden Hall (Salem, Va.) had the final say of the opening half as he took an outlet pass from freshman goalie AJ Cakir (McKinney, Texas) and ripped a shot from distance for his seventh goal of the year to cut the gap to 9-3 heading into the break.
- Tusculum opened the scoring in the second half to push the margin out to 10-3, but freshman attack Dany Nguyen (Forest, Va.) put his name on the scoresheet with 12:33 showing on the clock on an assist by Starling to make it 10-4. After two more TU goals, Mewes struck for his second goal of the contest on a dish from Hall to reduce the gap to 12-5. The Pioneers would go on a run of three straight goals, but the Wasps replied in kind. Freshman Jackson Jones (Salem, Va.), Starling and Nguyen reeled off back-to-back-to-back scores over a 49-second span to bring the Wasps back within reach at 15-8. Tusculum got back on the board to push their lead back out to eight, but Jones scored as time expired for the 16-9 score heading to the fourth. The fourth quarter was all Pioneers as they tallied five unanswered goals for the 21-9 victory.
Emory & Henry Individual Leaders
- Mewes went for two goals and three ground balls, while Starling had two goals, three assists and a ground ball. Jones collected two scores and five ground balls, while Nguyen posted two goals and picked up a trio of ground balls.
- Cakir finished with 11 saves and an assist in net while sophomore Mason Buttery (Carmel, Ind.) made nine stops in relief.
Tusculum Individual Leaders
- Luke Bowen led the Pioneers with four goals, six assists, four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Ben Royer went for four goals, five assists and a pair of ground balls, while Preston Stewart had three goals and three ground balls.
- Garrett Smith, Ryan McKeown and Alex Germain combined for 13 saves in the win for Tusculum.
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