Wingate, N.C. --- Wingate senior midfielder Andrew Gobble (Huntersville, N.C.) netted the game-winning goal with six seconds left in the third quarter, helping the Bulldogs close out the regular season with an 8-6 South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse victory over the Tusculum College Pioneers on the Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Saturday afternoon. Gobble was one of three seniors who were honored in pre-game ceremonies.

With their seventh consecutive victory, the 'Dogs earn a first-round bye in the upcoming SAC Tournament this week in Charlotte, N.C. Wingate finishes the regular season with at 10-5 overall and 7-1 ledger in the SAC. Tusculum is now 4-9 overall and 3-5 in SAC play.

The Pioneers struck first to take an early 1-0 lead with 10:03 left in the first quarter on a score from sophomore midfielder Dallas Wade (Victoria, B.C.). He led the Tusculum offense with three goals in the contest.

The Bulldogs answered at the 8:33 mark in the first quarter on a goal from freshman attack Kenan Reed (Winston Salem, N.C.) to tie the game up at 1-1. Tusculum then took back the lead at the 6:37 mark to gain a 2-1 advantage. Wingate soon netted back-to-back tallies to regain the lead at 3-2 with two seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

The Pioneers tied the contest again at 3-3 on the only goal scored in the second quarter of play by sophomore attack Chris Ryan (Old Bridge, N.J.) at the 4:59 plateau. The score remained tied up at 3-3 going into the halftime break.

Tusculum took the 4-3 lead to begin the second half of play on the second goal of the afternoon from sophomore midfielder Nate Wade (Victoria, B.C.) with 13:08 remaining in the third quarter. The Bulldogs then began a run of five unanswered tallies to gain an 8-4 advantage with 10:52 to go in the fourth quarter. The Pioneers would answer with consecutive goals to cut the lead down to 8-6 with 1:41 remaining in the contest, but it would not be enough.

Eight Bulldogs finished with one goal each on the afternoon. Sophomore attack and reigning SAC Offensive Player of the Week Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.) netted his team-leading 29th tally of the season. Freshman midfielder Daniel Godwin (Greensboro, N.C.) also scored to increase his season total to 23 goals, which is good for second on the WU team list. Freshman defenseman RJ Neal (Shady Side, Md.) and sophomore midfielder James Thatcher (East Patchogue, N.Y.) each netted their first tallies of the season Saturday.

Wingate junior goalkeeper Jacob Ormerod (Lake Mary, Fla.) posted 16 saves and picked up the win. He went the distance Saturday. Tusculum junior goalie Kevin Haggerty (Suffern, N.Y.) recorded 14 saves and took the loss. He also played the full 60 minutes.
The Wingate University men's lacrosse team will be back in action on Thursday night for the semi-final round of the SAC tournament at the Queens Sports Complex. The opponent will be determined after Tuesday night's quarter-finals.

(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. He is the son of Harrison and Dona Kaplan.)