Women's Lacrosse | 4/14/2017 6:45:00 PM

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University women's lacrosse will play its final regular season home contest of the 2017 season, hosting the Brevard College Tornados in a South Atlantic Conference Senior Day showdown from Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Saturday afternoon. First draw control is slated for a 12 noon start. The Bulldogs look to rebound from a 21-17 defeat to NAIA number one SCAD Savannah Wednesday.
 
The Bulldogs will honor five seniors in a pre-game ceremony Saturday (at approximately 11:45 a.m.). Wingate currently sits at 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the SAC. Brevard is 3-10 overall and 0-7 in league play. The Bulldogs saw a program record six-game win streak come to an end Wednesday, but they have won four consecutive conference games. Brevard is coming off a huge 17-3 non-conference victory over Montreat on Thursday.
 
The Bulldogs are led by senior attack Brittany Andrews (Bel Air, Md.), who tops the team charts and ranks second in the SAC with 51 goals on the season. Andrews is third in the nation with 4.64 goals per game, while posting two six-goal performances in the 2017 campaign. She tallied a season-high seven goals versus Catawba on April 1.
 
WU senior midfielder Paulena Dempsey (Jarrettsville, Md.) is second on the Bulldog charts with 53 total points (34 goals, 19 assists). Dempsey is fourth in the SAC with her assist total. Redshirt junior attack Shannon O'Neal (Severna Park, Md.) also has 34 tallies due to a five-goal performance versus SCAD on Wednesday. Freshman attack/midfielder Kendall Wells (Elkridge, Md.) has contributed 17 goals, while freshman attack Joanna King (Lancaster, Pa.) leads the Bulldogs with 10 assists.
 
Bulldog sophomore goalkeeper and four-time reigning SAC Defensive Player of the Week Arion Pierre (Haymarket, Va.) has posted 111 saves on the season, while leading the league in save percentage at 52.4. Pierre ranks 20th in the nation and third in the SAC with her goals against average of 8.99. Pierre's stellar save percentage is sixth overall in NCAA Division II women's lacrosse.
 
For Brevard, the Tornados are led by the duo of junior defender Victoria Hayes (Freehold, N.J.) and junior attack/midfielder Nina Siu (Greensboro, N.C.), who have tallied 31 goals each on the season. Siu also is second in league standings with an impressive 39 total assists, which adds up to 70 total points on the season (second in the SAC).
 
BC junior defender/midfielder Kelly Kearnan (Morrisville, N.C.) and freshman midfielder Micaiah Vacchiano (Sebastian, Fla.) have added 14 goals each. Brevard junior goalkeeper Shelby Arsenault (Shallow Lake, Ontario) leads the nation with 11.83 saves per contest, while ranking second in the league with 154 total saves.
 
Brevard looks for its first win over Wingate in program history as the Bulldogs have averaged 18.3 goals in each of the previous three meetings. Wingate won at Brevard last season by a score of 15-6 on April 16, 2016. The Bulldogs' biggest victory over the Tornados came in Wingate's inaugural season when Wingate beat Brevard 22-7 on March 15, 2014.
 
Wingate leads the league in draw controls per game (14.08) and save percentage (51.7). The Bulldogs are third in the SAC with an average of 13.77 tallies per contest. The WU defense ranks near the top of the conference in multiple categories including goals against average and total goals allowed (117).
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Wingate University, consistently ranked as a top 10 "best value" in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves more than 3,200 students on three campuses in Wingate, Charlotte and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 35 minors, 12 career concentrations, nine pre-professional programs, master's degrees in accounting, business, education, physician assistant studies and sport management and doctorates in education, pharmacy and physical therapy.
 
With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. To view current news, video and story ideas, visit www.youtube.com/wingateuniversity. 
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past 10 years. For more information, go to www.wingate.edu.
 
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing colleges in the 2000's with 88 selections. Among North Carolina's colleges and universities, Wingate is number one in this millennium with 88 Academic All-America® honorees. Wingate is tops among all SAC schools with 97 lifetime Academic All-America® picks. For more information on WU athletics, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.
 
(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.)