Rock Hill, S.C.----Wingate University sophomore midfielder
Aksel Juul (Newcastle, England) scored both goals for the 20th-ranked Bulldogs Friday night, leading the regular season champs to a 2-1 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Tournament semifinals at Manchester Meadows. The 'Dogs improve to 13-3-1 overall, advancing to Sunday's SAC championship game. LRU falls to 6-8-5 overall.
Wingate is looking to win its first SAC title since 2002. The regular season champs started the tournament run with a 3-1 win over Coker Tuesday night. The Bulldogs are now 11-1-1 over their last 13 games. Wingate also avenged a 3-0 regular season loss at Lenoir-Rhyne to open the conference season. This is Wingate's first trip to the SAC Tournament title match since 2008.
The first half went scoreless, with the teams combining for just three shots. Juul had both Wingate shots, including the only shot on goal in the first 45 minutes.
Juul got the scoring started four minutes into the second half, taking one off the bounce from seven yards out from junior
Shaun Gadsby (Newcastle, England) and finding the right side of the net. For Juul it was goal number five for the year, while Gadsby notched his fifth assist of the year.
Lenoir-Rhyne had the equalizer 15 minutes later, with
Ben Jones scoring on a
Leon Mueller-Wiesen assist to make it 1-1.
The Bulldogs regained the lead in the 78th minute when Juul notched his second multi-goal game of the week. It was once again Gadsby setting up Juul, crossing one from the right side to the near post as Juul found the back of the net for the sixth time in his last seven games.
Wingate finished the night out-shooting Lenoir-Rhyne 5-4, holding a 3-1 edge in shots on goal. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper
Stephen Banick (Pickerington, Ohio) got the win for the Bulldogs.
Jorge Hernandez had one save for the Bears.
Wingate will take on Tusculum in Sunday's championship game at 4 p.m. at Manchester Meadows. The Bulldogs defeated the Pioneers 3-1 in the regular season meeting, thanks to a hat trick from Gadsby.
