Men's Lacrosse | 4/26/2017 4:12:00 PM

Charlotte, N.C.----The number two seed Wingate University men's lacrosse team will hit the road for a South Atlantic Conference tournament semi-final match-up with the number three seed Tusculum College Pioneers Thursday night. Last Saturday, the NCAA Division II number 11 Bulldogs rallied to win the regular season meeting between the two teams by a 10-9 margin. Thursday's first face-off is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Queens Sports Complex (championship central; live video; live statistics).
 
Wingate enters post-season play 11-3 overall, matching the school-record for victories shared with the 2007 and 2008 squads. Number 20 Tusculum has an identical 11-3 overall record, thanks to an 11-4 SAC quarter-final victory over Lincoln Memorial Tuesday in Greeneville, Tenn.
 
"We are thrilled and honored to be a part of the SAC tournament," Wingate head men's lacrosse coach Tim Boyle says. "It has been our goal all year and now that we are here, we want to do everything we can to make Wingate and all of the alumni, family and friends of the program proud."
 
"We couldn't be more excited for the boys," Boyle says. "We are proud of all they have accomplished this year to get to this point. They all know what's at stake…and we are hopeful that they will compete for every play until the final whistle sounds so we can continue to stay together as a family."
 
The Bulldogs earned the number two seed thanks to a 4-0 fourth quarter run Saturday at Tusculum. Wingate sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) completed the flurry with his 27th goal of the season at the 2:46 mark of the fourth quarter, settling the final score at 10-9 Bulldogs.
 
Wingate redshirt senior attack Ryan Vogrig (Vancouver, B.C.) topped the individual scoring charts with a season-best four goals. Junior attack Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.) and sophomore attack Ryan Ormerod (Lake Mary, Fla.) added two goals each. Llerandi and sophomore midfielder Daniel Godwin (Greensboro, N.C.) had one goal each.
 
Bulldog senior attack Austin Murphy (Orillia, Ontario) will long remember Saturday, as he became Wingate's all-time leading point scorer with his first quarter assist (10:38) to classmate Ryan Vogrig to put the Bulldogs on the board and tie the score 1-1. On the day, Murphy dished out two helpers to bring his career point total to 221 entering the SAC post-season event.
 
Tusculum junior midfielder Nate Wade (Victoria, B.C.) led the Pioneers with two goals Saturday. Seven TC teammates had one goal each. Reigning AstroTurf SAC Defensive Player of the Week and Wingate sophomore goalie Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) had 10 saves in the triumph over Tusculum.
 
Sheridan leads the SAC and the nation with a 62.3 save percentage, while also leading the league with 7.02 goals-against average. Sheridan ranks fourth in NCAA Division II men's lacrosse with his goals-against average mark and finishes the regular season with 149 saves, which is third in the SAC. Sheridan is one of five Bulldogs to earn first team All-SAC honors. A program-record 11 student-athletes received All-SAC distinction (complete All-SAC release).
 
Tusculum senior goalie Kevin Haggerty (Suffern, N.Y.) had a season-high (equaling) 16 saves in the Pioneers' 11-4 quarter-final victory over LMU. He has recorded at least 10 saves in seven of the Tusculum's last eight games, with a .613 save percentage and an 8.18 goals against average over that span. Haggerty recorded 12 saves against Wingate Saturday.
 
Pioneer senior midfielder Ben Boyd (Bel Air, Md.) leads TC in goals (37) and points (50). Wade has 30 goals, while junior attack Chris Ryan (Old Bridge, N.J.) checks in with 29 scores. Nine different Pioneers have at least 10 assists, led by junior midfielder Dallas Wade (Victoria, B.C.) and his 17 helpers. Nate Wade received first team All-SAC laurels, while four teammates were named second team or honorable mention.
 
The winner of the Wingate-Tusculum semi-final contest will face the winner of the Queens-Lenoir-Rhyne semi-final Saturday at 2 p.m. for the 2017 SAC tournament title.
 
BULLDOGS ARE NUMBER FOUR IN SOUTH REGION
 
Wingate is the number four team in this week's NCAA Division II South Region poll, NCAA officials announce from their Indianapolis headquarters Wednesday. The top six includes Limestone (15-1), Lenoir-Rhyne (12-1), Tampa (12-4), Wingate (11-3), Belmont Abbey (11-4) and Colorado Mesa (13-2).

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 information to this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate. He is the son of Harrison and Dona Kaplan.)