Wingate, N.C.--- Wingate University senior midfielder Emily Nosek (Bel Air, Md.) and junior attack Brittany Andrews (Bel Air, Md.) led the Bulldog offense with four tallies each as WU picks up its first South Atlantic Conference win of the season in a 15-6 triumph over Lincoln Memorial University women's lacrosse action on Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Saturday.

WU redshirt sophomore attack Shannon O'Neal (Severna Park, Md.) finished second in scoring with three goals. Wingate improves to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in the SAC. Lincoln Memorial falls to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in the SAC.

"We are proud of our team's overall effort today," Wingate head coach Caline McHenry Olmsted says. "They came out ready to play and win our first conference game of the season. We look forward to building off this performance for the rest of the year."
 
The 'Dogs started the contest very quickly on back-to-back goals from Andrews with 28:20 in the first half to take an early 2-0 lead. Wingate never looked back from this point forward as the first two tallies commenced a run of 11 unanswered goals in the first half of play to give the Bulldogs an 11-0 advantage with 2:18 remaining in the first. WU maintained an 11-0 shutout lead over LMU going into the halftime break.

Nosek capped off a run of 12 consecutive scores on her fourth goal of the afternoon to give Wingate a 12-0 lead with 22:26 to go in the second half. The Railsplitters would respond with a streak of five consecutive tallies to make it a 12-5 contest with 12:48 remaining in the second half. The 'Dogs then added three more insurance goals to gain a 15-5 advantage with only 5:11 left in the game.

The first score of the WU three-goal streak came from junior attack Paulena Dempsey (Jarrettsville, Md.) at 9:59 in the second half on her 29th tally of the season. The next two goals were scored by freshman attack Anna Harbacevich (Charlotte, N.C.) on her second goal of the season and by freshman midfielder Megan Amrein (Abington, Md.) on her third goal of the 2016 campaign.

Wingate freshman goalkeeper Arion Pierre (Haymarket, Va.) recorded eight saves on the afternoon and picked up the win. She played for a total of 42:48 on Saturday. Sophomore goalkeeper Nicole Hinkle (Fallston, Md.) briefly replaced Pierre and played for 17:12 minutes. LMU sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Novak (Gross Pointe Farms, Mich.) posted nine saves and picked up the loss. She played for a total of 51:29.

The Wingate University women's lacrosse team will be back in action on Wednesday when they take on the SCAD-Savannah Bees for a 4 p.m. home contest. The Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters will travel to Pikeville, Kentucky on Monday to face the University of Pikeville Bears. The non-conference encounter is slated for 6 p.m.

(Wingate University sports information/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A freshman from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate. The former Millbrook High School baseball player is the son of Harrison and Dona Kaplan.)