Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs team will be the number four seed in this week’s Food Lion Men’s Soccer SAC Tournament, which begins Wednesday afternoon. The Bulldogs will host the fifth-seeded Trojans of Anderson University at 4:30 p.m. Wingate finished the regular season at 10-4-1 overall and 5-3-1 in the SAC. The Trojans were 4-10-3 overall and 4-4-1 in the conference.

Wingate started the SAC season 5-0, and was ranked as high as eighth in the top 25 early in the season. The Bulldogs are fifth in the most recent version of the NCAA Southeast region poll. The top six teams in the region poll will advance to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Gui Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who has four goals and a team-best five assists, leading the team with 13 points. Sophomore forward Peron Da Silva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) leads the Bulldogs with five goals, ranking second on the team with 11 points. Juniors Fabio Azeredo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Gui Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) have two goals and three assists each.

The Trojans defeated Wingate 1-0 in the regular season matchup at Anderson earlier this month. Anderson out-shot the Bulldogs on the afternoon, holding Wingate to a season-low four shots. Wingate and Anderson also met in the first round of the 2011 SAC Tournament, with the regular season champion Trojans scoring a pair of second half goals to win 4-2 over the eighth-seeded Bulldogs.

The winner of the Wingate-Anderson match takes on the winner of the Mars Hill-Tusculum contest. That semifinal will take place Friday at 7 p.m. at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, S.C. The championship game takes place Sunday at 4 p.m. in Rock Hill.

2012 Food Lion SAC Men’s Soccer Tournament

Wednesday, Oct. 31      
3 p.m.   #6 Catawba at #3 Lincoln Memorial         
4 p.m.   #7 Lenoir-Rhyne at #2 Carson-Newman
4:30 p.m. #5 Anderson at #4 Wingate
7 p.m.   #8 Tusculum at #1 Mars Hill

Friday, Nov. 2 (Rock Hill, S.C.)
7 p.m. MHC-TC winner vs. WU-AU winner
7 p.m. CN-LRU winner vs. LMU-CAT winner

Sunday, Nov. 4 (Rock Hill, S.C.)
4 p.m. SAC Championship Game
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Wingate University, ranked as the 6th “best value” in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves 2,648 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration, and doctorates in pharmacy and education. With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life.
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 20 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past six years.
 
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing private colleges in the 2000’s with 50 selections. Among North Carolina’s colleges and universities, Wingate’s 50 Academic All-America® honorees are first during this millennium. Wingate’s 59 lifetime Academic All-America® picks are tops among all SAC schools. For more information, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.