Men's Soccer | 11/2/2015 12:59:00 PM

Rock Hill, S.C.----The back-to-back regular season SAC champion Wingate University Bulldogs will be the two seed in this week's South Atlantic Conference men's soccer tournament, which begins Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs enter the tournament at 12-3-2 overall after going 9-2 in league play, finishing tied for first in the SAC standings. Wingate will face seventh-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne Tuesday at 2 p.m. Due to weather and field conditions, the contest will take place at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, S.C.

Wingate has won two straight regular season SAC titles for the first time in program history. The Bulldogs won the outright league title last year, advancing to the SAC title match and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the NCAA regional semifinals. Wingate has been ranked as high as seventh in the NSCAA top 25 this season, sharing the regular season title with Carson-Newman.

The Bulldogs opened the year without a loss in their first 12 games, going 10-0-2. That stretch included a pair of convincing 5-0 victories, along with a 3-1 win at ninth-ranked Limestone. The first setback of the season came at No. 21 Lander. Wingate picked up big wins over Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne to guarantee at least a share of the SAC title. The Bulldogs suffered a 1-0 double-overtime loss at Tusculum on the final day of the regular season, dropping them to a shared championship.

Wingate is led by sophomore forward Jon Ander (Bilbao, Spain), who has a league-best 10 goals, adding three assists to rank third in the SAC with 23 points. The Bulldogs have a trio of midfielders that are all tied for sixth in the conference with 17 points. Senior Shaun Gadsby (Newcastle, England) has five goals and ranks fourth in the conference with seven assists. Junior Aksel Juul (Newcastle, England) is second with nine assists, adding four goals while sophomore Callum Ross (Newcastle, England) is ninth with six goals and sixth with five assists. Junior Charlie Machell (Newcastle, England) ranks ninth in the league with six goals.

The Wingate defense leads the conference with a goals-against average of 0.86. The Bulldogs are the only team allowing less than a goal per game. Freshman goalkeeper Pablo Jara (Santiago, Chile) leads the SAC in goals-against average, ranking second in save percentage. The Bulldogs are second in the conference in goals and tied for the lead in assists.

Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne met less than two weeks ago, with the Bulldogs rallying for a 2-1 victory. Trailing 1-0 with 16 minutes remaining, Ander scored the equalizer off an assist from Gadsby. A foul in the box with under four minutes to go set up a penalty kick, which Ross lined home to give the 'Dogs the victory. The Bulldogs and Bears met in the SAC Tournament semifinals in 2014, with Wingate winning 2-1 thanks to a pair of Juul goals.

The winner of the Wingate-LRU quarterfinal match faces the winner of the Tusculum vs. Lincoln Memorial contest. That semifinal contest will take place at Manchester Meadows Friday at 1:30 p.m. The championship game will be Sunday at 1 p.m. at Manchester Meadows. With rain still in the area throughout Monday, there is still a chance of a schedule change for the quarterfinal match between Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne. For schedule updates go to wingatebulldogs.com and follow @WU_Bulldogs on Twitter.