Men's Lacrosse | 4/21/2017 3:44:00 PM

Greeneville, Tenn.----The 14th-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs conclude the 2017 regular season campaign when they travel to Tusculum College to face the 19th-ranked Pioneers in a crucial South Atlantic Conference top 20 match-up from Pioneer Field. First face-off is slated for a 3 p.m. start. The Bulldogs defeated Tusculum 8-6 in the 2016 regular season finale from Graham Gill Field.
 
Wingate enters the contest at 10-3 overall and 5-2 in the SAC. Tusculum is 10-2 overall and 6-1 in league play. The Bulldogs currently hold the third-place spot in the league standings, sitting one game behind second-place Tusculum. Lenoir-Rhyne (11-1 overall, 7-0 SAC) stands alone in first place.
 
The Bulldogs are led by senior attack and back-to-back SAC Offensive Player of the Week Austin Murphy (Orillia, Ontario), who tops the SAC individual standings with 61 total points (25 goals, 36 assists). Murphy also leads the league with his impressive assist total. He enters the last week of the regular season with 219 career points, tied with Kyle Costello ('08) for number one on the Wingate men's lacrosse career charts.
 
WU sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) continues his break-out season, leading the Bulldogs with 26 goals. Llerandi's best performance came against (then) fifth-ranked Belmont Abbey on March 22, when he scored a season-high four tallies. Junior attack Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.) is third on the WU scoring charts with 20 goals on the season. Sullivan tallied three goals and three assists in Wingate's most recent game versus Brevard Saturday.
 
Four other Bulldogs have totaled double-digit goals in 2017 with sophomore midfielder Daniel Godwin (Greensboro, N.C.) leading the group with 15 tallies. Sophomore midfielder Conor Gronbach (Cary, N.C.) has contributed 13 goals, while redshirt senior attack Ryan Vogrig (Vancouver, B.C.) and senior attack Tanner Kotch (Butler, Pa.) add 11 and 10 tallies each, respectively.
 
Wingate junior goalkeeper Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) is third in league with 139 saves and second with 84 total goals allowed in 2017. Sheridan ranks first in the SAC and fourth in the nation with his 7.02 goals-against average. He also ranks second in NCAA Division II men's lacrosse with a 62.3 save percentage.
 
Tusculum senior midfielder Ben Boyd (Bel Air, Md.) leads the Pioneer scoring efforts with 32 total goals and 10 assists. Boyd ranks fourth in the SAC with his season goal total and has posted back-to-back four-goal performances versus Coker and Mars Hill entering the Wingate encounter.
 
Pioneer junior attack Chris Ryan (Old Bridge, N.J.) and junior midfielder Nate Wade (Victoria, B.C.) tie for second on the TC team scoring list with 27 goals each. Freshman attack Liam MacDonald (Coquitlam, B.C.) is third with 18 tallies and 14 assists. Senior goalie Kevin Haggerty (Suffern, N.Y.) has started all 12 games in the cage, posting 123 total saves. Haggerty is third in the SAC with a 56.7 save percentage and 8.63 goals-against average.
 
Wingate is coming off a dominant 17-4 victory over Brevard on Senior Day Saturday, April 15. The 17 tallies were a season-high for the Bulldog offense, extending the current win streak to three games. Wingate ranks fifth in the league with 148 goals as a team and third with 89 total assists. The 'Dogs lead the SAC with 6.75 goals-against average and only 88 total goals allowed.
 
The Tusculum Pioneers currently ride a five-game win streak, averaging 13.6 goals per contest in the stretch. The Pioneers defeated Mars Hill 12-7 in their last game on Saturday. Tusculum is the highest scoring team in the conference, tallying 178 team goals on the season. Tusculum also leads the league with 122 total assists and 14.83 goals per contest.
 
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.)