CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – The Queens University of Charlotte men's lacrosse team picked up its first South Atlantic Conference win today defeating Tusculum College 12-5. The win was the first league win for the Royals moving them to 1-2 in the SAC and 3-5 on the year. The Pioneers drop to 3-5 on the year and 1-2 in the league after taking the loss.
 
Jesse Oliver led Queens with two goals and one assist while Eric Fitz also added a pair of goals. Drew Flack won 18-of-20 face-offs and totaled 13 ground balls. Anthony Valenza collected the win in goal after recording 10 saves.
 
Queens opened the scoring in today's game when Justin Swick found the back of the net at 7:30 to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Quinn Tallant then followed to increase the Royals' lead to 2-0 before Tusculum got on the board scoring a pair to tie the game at 2-2 with 4:31 left in the period. A goal from Oliver at 3:00 would put Queens back in front, 3-1, but with 35 seconds left to play Chris Ryan of the Pioneers scored to knot the game once more, 3-3. Flack then won the final three face-offs of the quarter resulting in a pair of goals scored by Queens giving the Royals a 5-3 lead heading into the second quarter. Flack scored one goal while Griffin Stechmiller scored the other.
 
Tusculum's Keegan Bell would score the first goal of the second at 12:24 to cut the Royals' lead to one, 5-4. However, the Royals had an answer putting back-to-back points on the board to move in front by three, 7-4, with 7:47 left before the half. Ryan of the Pioneers then scored the final goal of the quarter with 4:12 on the clock to give the game a 7-5 score at the break.
 
The Royals' defense then owned the third and fourth quarter keeping the Pioneers scoreless for the entire second half of the game. Additionally, Queens added three goals to the board in the third and two in the fourth to increase their lead to seven, 12-5, before the final horn sounded.  
 
Queens outshot Tusculum 40-27, putting 27 shots on goal to the Pioneers' 15 shots on frame. The Royals also won the battle for ground balls, 31-16.
 
Ryan led the Pioneers with two goals today while Liam Macdonald recorded one goal and two assists. Patrick Thomas picked up the loss in goal after recording 15 saves.
 
Queens will be back in action on the road at Coker College on Saturday, Mar. 31. The Royals topped Coker last season winning 22-9 at home. The game is slated to begin at 4 p.m.