Hickory, N.C.----The sixth-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears won 27-of-35 face-offs Sunday afternoon, prevailing 19-14 over the third-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs to claim the 2021 South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse tournament title. The Bears improve to 13-1 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 11-2 on the season.

KEY STATS

- Lenoir-Rhyne out-shot Wingate 54-41 on the day
- The Bears held a 31-30 advantage in shots on goal
- LR piled up 46 ground balls compared to Wingate's 22
- Lenoir-Rhyne turned it over 20 times; the 'Dogs had 14 turnovers
- Wingate was three-for-four on man-up chances; LR went one-for-five

KEY BULLDOGS

- Willie Grieco handed out eight assists on the day, giving him 60 on the year
- Adam Vodovnik poured in six goals on eight shot, giving him 58 goals on the season
- Bobby Padden added four goals and an assist
- Danny Riley and Dominic Piazza contributed two goals apiece
- Reese Orman had an assist, caused turnover, ground ball and won a face-off
- KC Carlson collected 12 saves on the day
- Nick Guarino registered three caused turnovers
- Noah Ehinger won four face-offs and picked up three ground balls

FIRST PERIOD

- Lenoir-Rhyne jumped out to a 4-1 lead eight minutes in, getting two Myles Moffat goals
- Wingate scored the final four goals of the frame to take the lead
- Padden scored at the 6:26 mark, while Riley scored two minutes later, both coming off Grieco assists
- Piazza scored off a Padden assist with a minute left to tie it at four
- Vodovnik scored 10 seconds later off another Grieco assist to put WU on top 5-4

SECOND PERIOD

- The Bears scored six of the first seven goals in the second to take a 10-6 lead, with Will Canata scoring three times
- Padden scored off an Orman assist at the 7:31 mark to pull Wingate within three
- Vodovnik scored four minutes later to make it 10-8
- Goals from Erick Dickinson and Tommy Aguilar gave LR a 12-8 halftime lead

THIRD PERIOD

- Goals from Piazza and Vodovnik, both assisted by Grieco, pulled WU within two just four minutes in
- A Bryce Reece goal with 5:26 to go gave Lenoir-Rhyne a 14-10 advantage
- Padden and Riley scored in the final four minutes to make it 14-12 heading to the fourth

FOURTH PERIOD

- A Liam McGrath goal put the Bears on top 16-12 less than three minutes into the final frame
- Vodovnik scored off a Grieco assist to make it a three-goal game
- Toron Eccleston scored at the 7:50 mark to give the Bears an 18-13 lead
- Padden scored off a Grieco assist with 5:40 remaining to make it 18-14
- Canata capped the scoring on the day at the 4:21 mark, making the final margin 19-14

UP NEXT

- Wingate will wait to hear its postseason fate
- The NCAA selection show is Sunday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. on NCAA.com
- The 'Dogs are looking for a third NCAA Tourney bid in the last four seasons