Charlotte, N.C.----The 11th-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs advance to the program's first South Atlantic Conference Championship game with a narrow 8-7 triumph over the 20th-ranked Tusculum College Pioneers in SAC men's lacrosse semi-final action from Dickson Field at the Queens Sports Complex Thursday evening. Three Bulldogs scored two goals each to lead the offensive attack for the number two seed.
 
Wingate improves to 12-3 overall, setting a new school record for victories in the process. Tusculum ends its most successful season at 11-5 overall. The 'Dogs will face the fourth-seeded Queens University of Charlotte Royals for the league crown Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. from the same site.

"This was a real grind of a game," Wingate head men's lacrosse coach Tim Boyle says. "We are very happy to come away with the win. Tusculum did a great job tonight and all season. They are a very hard-working team."
 
"We struggled a little on offense, but were able to put home some keys goals at big moments," Boyle says. "We were able to stand tall at key times on our back end. Our defense came up big, as they have all season and we were able to hold on in the end.  We did a very good job at the FO X…which was the key to our win tonight."
 
WU junior attack Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.), sophomore midfielder Wyatt Weiseman (Jensen Beach, Fla.) and redshirt senior attack Ryan Vogrig (Vancouver, B.C.) led the Bulldogs with two goals each. Sophomore midfielder Conor Gronbach (Cary, N.C.) and sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) both added one tally for Wingate. 
 
For Tusculum, sophomore midfielder Keegan Bell (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) and senior midfielder Ben Boyd (Bel Air, Md.) topped the Pioneer scoring charts with two scores each. Three other Tusculum student-athletes contributed one goal in the contest. The Pioneer offense was held to a season-low seven tallies.
 
The Bulldogs struck first with an early goal from Sullivan to grab the 1-0 advantage with 13:59 in the opening quarter. A tally from Bell quickly tied the contest at 1-1 with 11:02 on the clock before Wingate answered with back-to-back scores from Gronbach and Sullivan to take a 3-1 lead at the 7:33 mark.
 
Tusculum responded with consecutive scores to knot the score up at 3-3 at the break between quarters. Wingate began the second frame with goals from Vogrig and Weiseman to make the score 5-3 Bulldogs with 9:53 remaining in the quarter. Vogrig's go-ahead tally was the 100th goal of his WU career. The Pioneers would quickly tie the game at 5-5 with consecutive scores under the two-minute mark. The score remained the same at the halftime intermission.
 
The contest was a back-and-forth affair in the second half of play with both squads exchanging goals in the third quarter, giving Wingate a tight 7-6 advantage with 4:24 to go in the stanza. A tally from Tusculum junior attack Chris Ryan (Old Bridge, N.J.) knotted the game up at 7-7 before Weiseman netted the game-winning goal to make it 8-7 with 13:01 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Bulldog defense held strong for the exciting victory.
 
Wingate junior goalkeeper Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) posted seven saves and got the win, improving his ledger to 11-3 on the season. He went the distance Thursday. Tusculum senior goalie Kevin Haggerty (Suffern, N.Y.) tallied 11 stops and took the loss. He also played the full 60 minutes.
 
The Bulldogs outshot the Pioneers 39-23, while holding the 13-4 edge in face-off victories. Wingate won 26-20 in ground balls. Both teams posted a combined seven extra-man opportunities, but were unable to capitalize.

"We have a very short turnaround to the championship game," Boyle says. "Our goal is right in front of our face. We hope to be ready and compete hard so we can make the program proud."
 
(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.)