Charlotte, N.C.----Queens University of Charlotte freshman attack Garrett Sadler (Chittenango, N.Y.) netted three goals to lead the offense as the number 20 Royals claimed a 9-5 South Atlantic Conference tournament semi-final victory over Wingate University at the Queens Sports Complex Wednesday night. The Royals advance to the SAC championship game on Saturday night against the Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears for a 5 p.m. start. Wingate finishes the 2016 campaign at 10-6 overall. Queens is now 11-6 overall.
 
The Royals began the scoring first with back-to-back tallies to take the early 2-0 lead at the 6:28 mark in the first quarter. The Bulldogs soon responded with consecutive scores of their own to tie the contest up at 2-2 with 10:16 in the second quarter.
 
Queens regained the advantage at 3-2 on a tally from senior attack Garrett Chan (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) with 5:04 to go in the second quarter of play. Wingate knotted the game back up to make it a 3-3 score with 2:46 remaining in the first half. The contest would remain tied at 3-3 going into the halftime break.
 
A go-ahead score from freshman attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) would give the 'Dogs a 4-3 advantage to begin the third quarter at the 12:11 mark. The Royals then commenced a run of four consecutive tallies to give Queens a 7-4 lead with 11:43 in the fourth quarter of play.
 
The Bulldogs would attempt to navigate the comeback trail as they trimmed the margin down to a two-goal deficit at 7-5 on the second goal of the evening from sophomore attack and second-team All-SAC Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.). The Royals added back-to-back insurance tallies to extend their lead out to 9-5 with 1:08 left in the contest as they advance to championship Saturday.
 
Sullivan and Llerandi topped the WU scoring charts with two goals each. Sullivan finished his sophomore campaign with a team-leading 31 goals. Freshman attack Kenan Reed (Winston Salem, N.C.) also had a goal for Wingate on the evening for his eighth tally of the season. QU freshman attack Gavin Perry (Raynham, Mass.) finished second on the Queens' list with two scores in the contest. Four other Royals totaled one goal each.
 
Wingate junior goalkeeper and first team All-SAC member Jacob Ormerod (Lake Mary, Fla.) posted 11 saves and took the loss. He went the distance Wednesday. He finished his junior campaign with 192 total saves. QU senior goalie Eric Dolan (Hopkinton, Mass.) recorded 13 saves and picked up the win. He also played the full 60 minutes.
 
(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.)