ROME -- The Hawks turned in their best offensive effort of the season Saturday afternoon, tallying six goals in a loss to Tusculum, in front of the home crowd at Ben Brady Field.

The Pioneers got off to a fast start, scoring the game's first 13 goals, to pull away. Shorter halted the run with 6:17 to play in the second quarter on the first goal of the game for Austin Zumbado on a pass from Jacob Henderson; while playing man-up due to a penalty on Tusculum (2-1).

The Pioneers added one final goal in the period to take a 13-1 advantage into halftime.

In the third quarter, Tusculum scored first as Dallas Wade found the back of the net in the opening seconds to extend his teams lead. But, the Hawks countered with a goal of their own two minutes later, when Jon Paul scored his lone goal of the afternoon. Only to have the Pioneers rattle off seven goals of their own to extend their lead to twenty (20-2).

In the final quarter Shorter (0-3) held Tusculum to one goal, while tallying four of the their own for the 21-6 final score. During the 4-1 run for the Hawks, Zumbado added two goals, before Matt McHugh and Chase Rogers closed out the effort for the home team.

Zumbado finished the game with three goals and one assist for Shorter, while McHugh, Rogers and Paul each added one and Henderson finished with an assist.

William Millwood led the defense with three caused turnovers; while Morgan DeNoers tallied a team high six ground balls.

Richard Ticer and Garry Robinson split time in goal for Shorter and both finished with eight saves.

The Hawks will be back in action next Saturday, February 25, when they travel to Mars Hill for a 2:00pm start.