Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) tallied a career-high four goals to boost the 18th-ranked Bulldogs to an 11-7 victory over the fifth-ranked Belmont Abbey College Crusaders in NCAA Division II top 20 lacrosse action from Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Wednesday evening. The 'Dogs earn their first win over Belmont Abbey since Feb. 22, 2012, when they defeated the Crusaders 10-7.
 
Wingate improves to 6-2 overall, while Belmont Abbey falls to 6-2 with their five-game win streak coming to an end. The Bulldogs earn their first victory over a top-five team in nine years. Wingate defeated number three Mercyhurst (Pa.) 7-6 in overtime on March 1, 2008 for its last triumph over a top-five squad.
 
WU sophomore midfielder Conor Gronbach (Cary, N.C.) and redshirt senior attack Ryan Vogrig (Vancouver, British Columbia) supported Llerandi's efforts with two goals each. Three other Bulldog student-athletes tallied one goal in the contest.
 
For Belmont Abbey, junior attacks Adam Wiedemann (Caledon East, Ontario) and Jason Hollister (Havelock, N.C.) led The Abbey with two goals each, while three other Crusaders posted one tally. Wiedemann and sophomore attack Liam Osborne (Bowmanville, Ontario) both topped the Belmont Abbey charts with two assists each.
 
Belmont Abbey got on the board first with a goal from freshman midfielder Collin Grippo (Bohemia, N.Y.) to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage with 10:54 left in the first quarter. Wingate then responded with three straight tallies to grab a 3-1 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the stanza and they never looked back. The Bulldogs held the two-goal advantage at the break between quarters.
 
The Crusaders began the second frame with a tally from Osborne to cut the deficit down to 3-2 with 35 seconds elapsed on the clock. Both teams exchanged goals to make it 4-3, but the 'Dogs tallied back-to-back scores to take their largest lead of the first half at 6-3 with 5:30 left in the second stanza. The first goal came on senior attack Austin Murphy's (Orillia, Ontario) team-leading 15th goal of the season.
 
Hollister then netted a tally with seven seconds left in the first half to trim the margin down to 6-4 at the halftime intermission. Gronbach scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season to begin the third quarter and give his team an 8-4 advantage at the 7:08 mark. The Bulldogs would score only one more goal for the remainder of the stanza and lead 9-6 entering the fourth quarter.
 
Vogrig netted his second score of the contest to make the score 10-6. WU freshman attack Gary Pierpont (Huntingtown, Md.) scored his first career goal to give Wingate its largest lead of the contest at 11-6 at the 8:12 plateau. Crusader junior midfielder Kyle McGinley (Merrick, N.Y.) found the back of the net with 6:20 remaining; however, it would not be enough as the Bulldogs held on for the massive four-goal victory.
 
Wingate junior goalkeeper Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) posted 11 saves and got the win, improving his record to 5-2. Belmont Abbey goalie Harley Whitham (Elk Grove, Calif.) tallied 10 saves and took the loss. Both goalies played the full 60 minutes Wednesday.
 
The Wingate Bulldogs outshot Belmont Abbey by a slim 30-26 margin, while maintaining the 36-27 edge in ground balls. The Abbey had 13 turnovers compared to the Bulldogs' 12 mistakes. The 'Dogs also won 10-9 in face-off victories. Belmont Abbey converted one extra-man goal out of two chance2, while Wingate did convert on any of its three extra-man opportunities.
 
The Wingate Bulldogs return to action this Saturday when they host Coker College for a 12 noon South Atlantic Conference encounter. Belmont Abbey hosts Shorter University on the same day at 2 p.m.
 
(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.)