Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University senior attack Austin Murphy (Orillia, Ontario) led all scorers with three goals, while sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) posted two tallies and two assists as the Bulldogs stormed back from a four-goal deficit in the third quarter to defeat Young Harris College by a final score of 8-5 in NCAA Division II men's lacrosse action from Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Thursday evening. Wingate tallied seven unanswered goals in the final 16 minutes.
 
Wingate grabbed the early 1-0 advantage on an unassisted tally from Llerandi with 10:15 left in the first quarter. Neither team would score until the 14:27 mark of the second frame when a goal from Young Harris sophomore attack Bruce Silk (Johns Creek, Ga.) tied the contest up at 1-1. The score remained tied at 1-1 for the halftime intermission.
 
An unassisted goal from Silk gave the Mountain Lions their first lead of the game at 2-1 with 14:51 left in the third quarter. The Young Harris scoring flurry continued with three unanswered goals as the visitors claimed a commanding 5-1 advantage with 3:15 on the clock in the third stanza.
 
With 15 seconds remaining in the frame, the Wingate rally began with an unassisted goal from sophomore midfielder Daniel Godwin (Greensboro, N.C.) to make it a 5-2 game. The Bulldogs would score two more before Murphy netted the game-tying tally on an assist from Llerandi to knot the score up at 5-5 to complete the comeback.
 
WU sophomore midfielder Conor Gronbach (Cary, N.C.) then netted the go-ahead tally with 5:40 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the host Bulldogs a 6-5 advantage. Back-to-back goals from Murphy and junior attack Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.) sealed the impressive season-opening triumph for Wingate.
 
Young Harris freshman midfielder Sam Gasta (Suwanee, Ga.) and Silk led the Mountain Lion scoring efforts with two goals each. Fitzpatrick added one score for the visitors. Junior attack Bevan Pate (Keller, Texas) finished with two assists to lead his team.
 
Wingate junior goalkeeper Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) posted 10 saves to earn the win and start 1-0 on the season. Sheridan went the distance Thursday. Young Harris sophomore goalie Mason King (Johns Creek, Ga.) took the loss and fell to 0-2. King totaled eight saves and played the full 60 minutes.
 
The Wingate University men's lacrosse team is back in action Sunday, Feb. 19 for a neutral site contest versus Florida Tech University from Optimist Field in Savannah, Ga. First face-off is slated for 2 p.m. Young Harris returns home this Sunday for a 12 noon contest against 20th-ranked Rollins College.
 
(Wingate University athletic media relations/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate.)