Rock Hill, S.C.----The second-seeded Wingate University Bulldogs picked up a 2-0 victory over seventh-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne University Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the 2015 South Atlantic Conference men's soccer tournament at Manchester Meadows. The Bulldogs improve 13-3-2 overall, advancing to Friday's SAC Tournament semifinals. The Bears end their season at 8-8-2 overall.

Wingate advances to the semifinals for the second straight year. The Bulldogs advanced to the SAC title match last season. Wingate will face Lincoln Memorial Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Manchester Meadows. The 'Dogs won 2-1 at LMU during the regular season.

The first half went by scoreless, with the Bulldogs holding a 6-4 advantage in shots, with a 2-1 edge in shots on goal.

Wingate got on the board three minutes into the second half. Senior Gustavo Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) lined a shot from the top of the box, which was stopped by LRU goalkeeper Zach King. Junior forward Charlie Machell (Newcastle, England) was there to head home the rebound in front of the net. The 2014 SAC Player of the Year now has seven goals this season.

The Bulldogs added to their lead in the 69th minute. A pass from senior midfielder Shaun Gadsby (Newcastle, England) found junior Aksel Juul (Newcastle, England) behind the defense. The 2014 All-SAC and All-Region selection beat the keeper in the lower corner from the top of the box, scoring his fifth goal of the year to make it 2-0.

The Bulldogs ended the night with a 16-10 advantage in shots, with a 9-2 edge in shots on goal. Freshman goalkeeper Pablo Jara (Santiago, Chile) had a pair of saves to preserve the shutout. King collected seven saves for the Bears. Sophomore forward Jon Ander (Bilbao, Spain) had a match-high six shots, including four shots on goal.