GREENEVILLE, Tenn.- The Queens Royals hit the road to lock horns with the Tusculum Pioneers in a South Atlantic Conference contest, which saw the Royals come out 12-8 winners. With the result, Queens improves to 5-3 on the year and 5-1 in conference play.
The Royals front three once again paved the way for a Queens victory as the trio accounted for nine of the team's twelve goals.
Quinn Tallant did a little bit of everything on his way to an impressive six-point haul with four goals and two assists. He now has 100 career goals as a Royal.
Kealan Pilon let his eyes do the talking as he picked apart the Pioneers' defense all afternoon accumulating four points on three assists and a goal.
Tyler Ewen showed off his precision shooting slotting away four pinpoint accurate goals.
Callin Harris leant a helping hand contributing three points by way of a goal and two assists while Solo goals from
Kevin Barry and
Zach Terry rounded out the scoring for the Royals.
Queens stormed out of the gates totally overwhelming their opponent in the opening five minutes and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before today's game went into a weather delay. Out of the break, the Royals would have more opportunities in the opening quarter but could not find that finishing touch. Queens' defense did a fantastic job communicating amongst each other and as a result, limited Tusculum's offensive chances. The first quarter would end 3-1 in favor of the Royals.
Queens once again started the quarter off hot controlling the tempo and pushing their opponents to make mistakes. This electric pace was tantalizing to watch but resulted in very few goals as neither side could truly capitalize. The Royals scored two goals six minutes apart but had a plethora of chances in between which could have easily turned into a dominant lead. Tusculum finally found a way through the smothering Royals defense with less than 10 seconds in the half as Queens took a 5-2 lead into halftime.
It was the Pioneers who came out of the break and landed the first blow of the second half. Tusculum would control the opening five minutes and cut the Royals' lead to one as the game sat 5-4. Queens regrouped and condensed their defense to limit space for the Pioneers to operate which paid dividends as Tusculum did not score again in the quarter. Once the defense shut the door, the Royals' offense kicked into high gear and went on a rampage to close out the third quarter leaving only goals in their wake. Queens produced four goals in the last five minutes highlighted by a perfectly timed Pilon to Tallant goal, taking a 9-4 lead into the final frame.
Tusculum tried everything in its power to make a comeback in the fourth quarter and got the start they were looking for by scoring two goals in the first minute and a half. With the Royals' lead cut to three and plenty of time left, it seemed a thrilling finish was in the near future. However, Ewen had other plans, leaving nothing to chance as he scored two goals in two minutes to put the game out of reach. The teams then traded goals as Queens held on and saw out a solid 12-8 victory.
The two teams were evenly matched producing an entertaining match and tight team statistics. Tusculum outshot the Royals narrowly 36-30. Queens finished with 21 turnovers as the Pioneers had 14. The Royals once again executed their clear to near perfection going 22-24 on the day for a 92 percent success rate. Tusculum also found success, completing 21-22 clears for a 95 percent success rate. Additionally, Queens came away with 34 ground balls and the Pioneers finished with 38.
The Queens Royals are back in action Saturday, April 3 as they host South Atlantic Conference opponent Lincoln Memorial University. The clash with the Railsplitters is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
