Men's Lacrosse | 4/27/2016 10:05:00 PM

Charlotte, N.C.----The number two seed Wingate University men's lacrosse team will hit the road down East Independence Boulevard for a South Atlantic Conference tournament semi-final matchup with the number three seed Queens University of Charlotte Royals. The Bulldogs won the regular season meeting between the two teams by a 9-8 margin. First face-off is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Queens Sports Complex (live statistics).

"We're excited for the opportunity to play against a very good Queens team," Wingate assistant coach Matt Schunk says. "We had a very hard fought game last time and I would expect to see much of the same again."
 
Wingate had one of their best regular season finishes in the 19-year history of the program. The Bulldogs finished 10-5 overall and 7-1 in the SAC. The 'Dogs are coming off a seven-game win streak to close out the regular season going into this crucial SAC tournament contest. The Bulldogs seek to continue this momentum as they face a very talented Royals team led by 24-year head coach Jim Fritz.

Number 20 Queens ended their regular season tenure at 10-6 overall and 6-2 in the SAC. The Royals have been nationally-ranked in the Top 25 the entire season; they are currently ranked 20th in the nation following their 13-5 SAC quarter-final victory over the Catawba College Indians Tuesday afternoon. Coach Fritz's team will head into the upcoming Thursday night showdown against Wingate with revenge on their minds.

The 'Dogs last hosted Queens on Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex on Wednesday, March 30. The Royals were ranked 12th in the national polls and Wingate had lost four consecutive contests to nationally-ranked teams to begin the 2016 season. Three of those four match-ups were decided by a one-goal margin, so the Bulldogs were looking to make a statement against their SAC rival.

The Royals began the game with a run of five consecutive tallies in the first quarter to jump out to an early 5-0 lead at the 3:04 mark. Queens maintained a 6-1 advantage at the halftime break. The 'Dogs would start a big-time rally in the second half.

Wingate started the second half scoring four unanswered goals to trim the margin down to only one goal to make it a 6-5 Royals lead with 3:44 in the third quarter. Queens extended its lead out to 7-5 at the 1:33 mark. The Bulldogs commenced their comeback trail as they netted four straight tallies to gain a 9-7 advantage with 4:27 in the fourth quarter.

The WU consecutive goal streak started with a score from freshman attack Ryan Ormerod (Lake Mary, Fla.) to cut the margin down to 7-6 with 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The game-tying goal was scored by senior long-stick midfielder Robert Godwin (Greensboro, N.C.) at the 12:43 mark. Then freshman attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) netted back-to-back goals to give the 'Dogs a 9-7 advantage with 4:27 remaining in the contest. Queens would score to make it 9-8 at the 2:32 mark, but it would not be enough as the Wingate squad earned a season-defining victory to boost its confidence the rest of the 2016 campaign. The 'Dogs have won 10 of their last 11 contests entering the SAC semi-finals.

Wingate junior goalkeeper and now first team All-SAC Jacob Ormerod (Lake Mary, Fla.) posted a career-high 22 saves versus Queens. He had the best performance of his collegiate career at the perfect time. Llerandi led all Bulldog scorers with three scores on the evening, including his game-winner. Freshman attack Ryan Ormerod (Lake Mary, Fla.) finished second on the WU team list with two goals.

Royals senior midfielder Spencer Corkery (Winchester, Ontario) will be an impact player Thursday as he led the QU offense with four scores in the last meeting. Four other Queens players had one goal each in the previous contest. Senior goalie Eric Dolan (Hopkinton, Mass.) also had a nice performance in the cage, recording 13 saves.

On Thursday night at the Queens Sports Complex, the rivalry will be renewed with the stakes much higher in a SAC tournament game. The winner of this match-up will advance to the conference championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The nationally-ranked Royals have won two out of their last four contests after their regular season loss to Wingate and fell 14-8 in their season finale in a non-conference contest against the University of Mount Olive on April 20. The Bulldogs look to continue their momentum and build upon their hot streak to have the opportunity to finish the 2016 campaign strong with a championship appearance on Saturday. Motivation will be a significant factor for Queens as they seek to take care of unfinished business from the previous meeting.

(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.)