Wingate, N.C.----Lenoir-Rhyne University sophomore attack Gabby Sousa (Delran, N.J.) led her team with four goals to boost the visiting Bears to a 14-12 victory over the Wingate University Bulldogs in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action from Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs trailed by as many as six goals with 22:25 left in the second half, but outscored LRU 6-2 the rest of the way in the comeback effort.
 
Wingate is now 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the SAC. Lenoir-Rhyne earned its first conference win of the season, improving to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in league play. The WU Bulldogs return to action this Wednesday, hosting Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in a non-conference encounter at 4 p.m. LRU hosts Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania on the same day and time.
 
WU senior attack Brittany Andrews (Bel Air, Md.) led all scorers with six goals in the contest to increase her team-leading total to 22 tallies in her final season. Redshirt junior attack Shannon O'Neal (Severna Park, Md.) finished second on the Bulldog scoring charts with four scores to reach double-digit goals with 13. Freshman attack/midfielder Kendall Wells (Elkridge, Md.) and senior midfielder Laura Swanson (Plantation, Fla.) posted one goal each.
 
For Lenoir-Rhyne, freshman midfielder Alyssa Sack (Senoia, Ga.) and sophomore midfielder Rachel Elmore (White Plains, Md.) finished with three goals each. Four other LRU student-athletes tallied one score in the contest.
 
The Bulldogs got on the board first with a goal from Wells to grab the early 1-0 advantage with 22:50 in the opening half on an assist from sophomore midfielder Emily Ketron (Mason, Ohio). Back-to-back tallies from Sack and Elmore gave the Bears a 2-1 lead at the 16:25 mark and they never looked back.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne led 5-2 at the 9:57 plateau, but Wingate answered with consecutive goals from Andrews to trim the margin down to 5-4 with 8:07 left. The Bears responded with four straight tallies of their own to extend the advantage out to 9-4 with 2:17 left. The visitors led 10-5 at the halftime intermission.
 
Andrews posted the first second half goal to make it a 10-6 game two minutes into the stanza, but the LRU Bears tallied back-to-back scores to take their largest of the game at 12-6 with 22:25 to go. Wingate would attempt a late comeback with three straight goals from O'Neal and Andrews to cut the deficit down to 12-9 with 16:19 on the clock.
 
The Bears added two more insurance goals to maintain a 14-10 lead with 5:55 to go in regulation. Andrews and O'Neal would add two more tallies to make it 14-12, but it would not be enough as Lenoir-Rhyne held on for the huge two-goal triumph.
 
Wingate sophomore goalkeeper Arion Pierre (Haymarket, Va.) tallied 10 saves and took the loss, falling to 4-2. She went the distance Saturday. LRU junior goalie Ines Flueck (Coppell, Texas) posted five total stops and got the win, improving her record to 4-2. She also played the full 60 minutes.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne outshot Wingate 32-21, while maintaining the 9-8 edge in caused turnovers. LRU led 14-10 in total ground balls and 15-12 in draw controls. Wingate scored three goals on five free-position shots, while the Bears netted two tallies on six free-position opportunities. Both teams were even at 15 turnovers each.
 
(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.)