GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - - Behind sophomore Kristin Gobbi's four goals UVa-Wise jumped out to a 10-4 halftime lead and held off a furious Tusculum College rally to claim a 14-13 non-conference victory at Pioneer Field Wednesday. The loss snaps an early season two-game winning streak for the Pioneers as the hosts dropped to 2-1 on the year.
UVa-Wise (1-0) began the 2017 season with a flurry as Flower Mound, Texas native Rachel Cole scored the first goal of the season off of a Hannah Marshall assist just over 90 seconds into the game. The assist by Marshall was the first of two in the opening six minutes for the Atlanta product as she assisted on freshman Jesse French's first collegiate goal to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead six minutes in.
Savannah Elliot's 15th goal of the season got Tusculum (2-1) on the board 53 seconds later to cut the lead in half.
Gobbi would score two of her four goals over the next three minutes as the Haymarket, Va. native scored off a Sydney Steinberg assist before scoring a man-up goal following Tusculum's Hayley Bartlett's goal to make it a 4-2 game with 16:39 to play in the half.
Elliott's second goal of the day cut the lead to 4-3 before back-to-back goals by Marshall and Ashley Wells gave the Cavaliers a three goal lead. Wells' goal was the first of her collegiate career as the Purcellville, Va. product scored off Steinberg's second assist of the day.
Bartlett found the back of the net for the second time at the 10:15 mark before four straight goals by McKayla Grasham, Gobbi, Catherina Dina and Steinberg gave UVa-Wise its largest lead of the game at 10-4 going to intermission.
Tusculum began the second half the way coach Meghan Dennehy's squad began the first half. The Pioneers scored the first two goals of the half to make it a 10-6 game with 27:15 to play. One of the goals came short-handed as Bartlett recorded her third goal of the contest.
French pushed the lead back to five off a Cole assist with 26:26 to play before consecutive goals from Sierra Haas, Emily Gleason and Rachel Holmes had Tusculum within two at 11-9 with just over 20 minutes to go.
Dina would score two of the game's next three goals to help keep the Pioneers at arm's length. The Alexandria, Va. native scored both goals unassisted en route to the hat trick. Tusculum's Calyn Kelly sandwiched an unassisted goal of her own in between Dina's sharpshooting to make the score 13-10 with under 13 minutes remaining.
Bailey Lowery would get Tusculum within two with 10:19 to play when she scored for the first time this season.
The score would remain unchanged until the 6:02 mark when Gobbi scored her fourth goal of the game to give the Cavs a 14-11 lead.
Malone would score at the 5:27 mark before Bartlett's fourth goal of the game made it a 14-13 contest with just over two minutes to play.
Tusculum would get two shots on goal in the final minute but Elliot would sail a shot high and Bartlett would be wide on a game-tying attempt in the final seconds.
Marshall added four groundballs and three caused turnovers to her three-point day. Cole led all players with seven draw controls while Jessica Apgar and Steinberg picked up three groundballs each.
Two of Gobbi's four goals came on free position shots as UVa-Wise finished 4-9 as a team in the category.
Malone posted a game-high six assists while Shelby Gray added four groundballs and two caused turnovers in defeat.
With the win, the Cavs now have 15 victories all-time one game into their third season of existence. It was also the program's first triumph over Tusculum College.
UVa-Wise was a perfect 8-8 in clear attempts in the opening half before finishing the game 12-17. Each school had 20 shots on goal while the Cavs won the draw control battle 18-11.
UVa-Wise begins the home portion of its schedule Saturday when Lees-McRae comes to Carl Smith Stadium. First draw is set for 12 p.m. as the Cavs will look for their seventh consecutive home victory.
