October 7, 2009

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lucas Paulini (Buenos Aires, Argentina) scored a pair of goals and Anteneh Lemma (Stockholm, Sweden) recorded a career-high three assists to lead the Tusculum College men’s soccer team to a 4-1 win over Mars Hill College in South Atlantic Conference play on Wednesday night.

Tusculum (7-2-1, 3-2 SAC) controlled the run of play for much of the match, notching its second consecutive contest with at least 30 attempts on goal and outshooting the Lions (3-6-2, 2-2-1 SAC) 31-14 on the night. Mars Hill’s Alex Huckabee (Kernersville, N.C.) stopped 12 attempts on goal for the Lions, while Lance Moore (Morristown, Tenn.) made four saves to record the win for the Pioneers.

Paulini led the way with two goals for the Pioneers, while Lemma and Andres Jarquin (Guatemala City, Guatemala) each notched a multi-assist night with three and two helpers, respectively. Lemma and Marc Joseph (Delray Beach, Fla.) each found the back of the net for the Pioneers in the match, as Paulini and Scott Lucky (Orangevale, Calif.) each tallied an assist.

Lemma opened the scoring for the Pioneers early in the 30th minute, taking a drop pass from Paulini off a cross from Jarquin and delivering a perfect strike inside the near post to give Tusculum a 1-0 advantage. Paulini extended the lead to 2-0 five minutes later with his second goal of the season, putting on a display of superb footwork to beat the last defender and deliver the finish off a cross from Lemma to send the Pioneers into the interval with a two-goal advantage.

Paulini found the back of the net for the second time in the match midway through the 56th minute, sending a driven strike into the upper 90 off a well-placed through ball from Lemma, extending the Pioneer lead to 3-0.

Mars Hill’s Danny O’Neill (Glasgow, Scotland) then took advantage of a poorly played pass by the Pioneer backline early in the 60th minute, making a run into the area and delivering a well-placed strike inside the far post to cut the lead to 3-1.

Joseph provided some additional insurance with his team-leading seventh goal of the season late in the 71st minute, accepting a brilliant through ball by Lemma off a lead pass by Lucky and sending a wonderful finish into the far side of the net to equal the final margin of 4-1.

Mars Hill will travel to North Greenville on Friday night. The game is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Boxscore...

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