BREVARD, N.C. – The Railsplitters (6-5, 2-3 SAC) trailed by two late in the second quarter, but used a 9-2 run that carried into the fourth quarter to power a 16-13 win over the Brevard Tornados (2-9, 0-5 SAC) on Saturday at the Brevard Turf Field.
Lincoln Memorial absolutely dominated the possession battle, outshooting the Tornados 48-23 with a 33-20 edge in shots on goal. The Railsplitters also posted a 42-35 advantage in groundball recoveries and won 17 of the match's 32 face-offs.
Five different players finished with at least two goals for the Railsplitters, a quintet led by
Robert Tucker's career-high six points on three goals and three assists.
Billy Kopsky added two goals and an assist on a career-best 12 shots, while
Adam Golia,
Nick Borriello and
Craig Settles scored twice each.
Ryan Taylor led Brevard with three goals and three assists, while Mathew Dropuljic has three goals on a team-high six shots. Jack Shade was the only other Tornado with multiple goals with two on two shots.
The Railsplitters outshot the Tornados 20-4 in the first quarter, but Brevard made the most of its opportunities by converting three of those four attempts into goals. The two teams traded goals early before Alex Bazzell (12:39) and Shade (7:53) gave the Tornados a 3-1 lead midway through the first.
Borriello (7:10) and Tucker (0:04) helped Lincoln Memorial tie the match at the end of the first, but Brevard scored three unanswered goals in the first six minutes of the second quarter to take a 6-3 lead. The Railsplitters countered with goals by Golia (7:19) and Tucker (3:38) before Taylor scored with 27 seconds left in the half to put the Tornados back in front by two, 7-5.
However, Borriello tallied with 12 seconds left in the half to swing the momentum and spark the Railsplitters' 9-2 flurry. After Settles tied the match early in the third quarter,
Kyle Arcuri gave Lincoln Memorial its first lead of the match with an unassisted goal at the 8:24 mark. The Railsplitters added three more goals after that to expand their lead to 12-8 with just over two minutes remaining in the third.
Lincoln Memorial never led by less than two after that while a 3-1 run to start the fourth pushed the Railsplitters' cushion to 15-10 with 4:18 left. The Tornados closed the gap to 15-13 on back-to-back goals by Dropuljic, but Tucker scored with 1:39 left to complete the 16-13 triumph.
Joe Medel made seven saves and allowed 13 goals over 60 minutes of action to improve to 6-4 on the season, while Brevard's Peyton Mooney made 17 saves over that same timeframe.
The win moved Lincoln Memorial to 2-1 all-time against the Tornados and avenged a 5-4 overtime loss in Brevard in 2015.
The Railsplitters travel to Mars Hill, North Carolina to face the Mars Hill Lions at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 9.
