Harrogate, Tenn.----Wingate University seniors Paulena Dempsey (Jarrettsville, Md.) and Brittany Andrews (Bel Air, Md.) scored five goals each to boost the Bulldogs to a 16-8 victory over the Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action from the LMU Lacrosse Field Sunday afternoon. Andrews increased her team-leading goal total to 30 tallies with her performance, while Dempsey now has 17 scores in her final season in the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold.
 
Wingate improves to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in the SAC. Lincoln Memorial is now 2-5 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Bulldogs return to action Saturday, March 25 when they host the Coker College Cobras in a 3 p.m. league encounter. LMU travels to Cleveland, Tenn. tomorrow afternoon for a 4 p.m. contest versus in-state rival Lee University.
 
WU redshirt junior attack Shannon O'Neal (Severna Park, Md.) supported Andrews and Dempsey's efforts with four goals in the contest to reach 20 scores on the season. Freshman attacks Kendall Wells (Elkridge, Md.) and Joanna King (Lancaster, Pa.) each added one goal, while King also contributed a game-high three assists.
 
For Lincoln Memorial, sophomore midfielder Casey Kelly (Ellenwood, Ga.) led the hosts with three goals. Senior attack/midfielder Heather Roache (Vero Beach, Fla.) and sophomore attack/midfielder Jasmin Click (Clermont, Fla.) contributed two goals each.
 
The game was a high-scoring affair in the first half of play with Wingate jumping out to the early 2-0 advantage on back-to-back tallies from O'Neal and Andrews with 28:40 left on the clock. LMU quickly responded with a goal from Roache to cut the deficit in half at 2-1 two minutes later.
 
The Bulldogs answered with three more consecutive scores to extend the margin out to 5-1 with 21:04 in the half. LMU would soon trim the deficit down to a one-goal contest (5-4) with a 3-0 run of its own at the 14:49 mark. Click began the scoring flurry with back-to-back scores.
 
Wingate's offense continued to produce with another streak of three straight goals to make it an 8-4 Bulldog advantage at the 8:21 plateau. Kelly netted her second score of the contest to make it 8-5, but O'Neal and Andrews added two more insurance tallies with 44 seconds left to close out the first half. The Bulldogs held a 10-5 lead at the halftime intermission.
 
LMU struck first to begin the second half with a goal from Kelly to cut the deficit down to 10-6 at the 28:29 mark, but the Wingate Bulldogs netted back-to-back tallies from O'Neal and Dempsey to increase the WU advantage to 12-6 at the 26:36 plateau.
 
Both teams exchanged goals up until 9:57 remaining (13-8) until Wingate finished the second stanza on a strong note with three straight goals to increase its lead to 16-8 with 32 seconds left in regulation. The Bulldogs held the advantage for the eight-goal victory.
 
Wingate sophomore goalkeeper Arion Pierre (Haymarket, Va.) posted 11 saves and got the win, improving her record to 6-2. Lincoln Memorial junior goalie Shannon Novak (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) also tallied 11 stops and took the loss, falling to 2-5. Both goalies played the full 60 minutes Sunday.
 
The Bulldogs outshot LMU 34-23, while also maintaining the 27-19 edge in shots on goal. Wingate led 18-8 in draw controls. The Railsplitters converted 17 ground balls off 15 WU turnovers and the Bulldogs picked-up 13 ground balls on 11 LMU mistakes. Wingate had one goal on 10 free-position shots, while Lincoln Memorial netted two tallies on five free-position opportunities.
 
(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.)