Wingate, N.C.----The ninth-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse tournament Tuesday night, defeating Catawba College 17-6 at Graham Gill Field. The Bulldogs improve to 12-3 overall to set up a rematch against #8 Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Semis Friday night, while Catawba's season ends at 5-10 overall.

KEY STATS

- Wingate out-shot Catawba 52-36
- The Bulldogs held a 31-17 edge in shots on goal
- Catawba committed 19 turnovers to WU's 16
- The 'Dogs were 23-of-25 on clear attempts, while the Indians were 19-for-25
- Wingate recorded 51 of 84 ground balls in the contest
- The Bulldogs won 19-of-26 face-offs
- WU capitalized on both man-up opportunities, while holding the Indians out of the goal in their lone attempt

KEY BULLDOGS

- Danny Riley paced the 'Dogs offensively, scoring five goals and adding an assist and five ground balls
- Bobby Padden scored three goals and had three ground balls
- Willie Grieco had a goal and three assists
- James Kotcamp picked up a pair of goals, as well as going 10-for-16 with six ground balls
- Daman Lingasin recorded a goal and an assist
- Donovan Jones won nine-of-10 face-offs, picked up two ground balls and notched a goal
- Adam Vodovnik, Zachary Pizzimenti, Joe Karnich and John Natoli found the back of the net for the Bulldogs
- Connor Thompson logged an assist
- AJ Lohmuller anchored the defense with three ground balls and three caused turnovers
- KC Carlson allowed just one goal in the first half, while John Caponi made eight saves in the final 30 minutes

NOTES

- Wingate makes its sixth consecutive appearance in the SAC Semifinals on Friday
- The 'Dogs are 8-1 in the SAC Tournament since 2017
- WU will meet Lenoir-Rhyne in the conference tournament for the fourth straight year
- The Bulldogs fell 19-14 in the title game a season ago in Hickory

FIRST PERIOD

- Natoli got the scoring started for the Bulldogs 25 seconds into the game
- Riley added another score at the 11:14 mark to extend the lead
- Catawba's Matt Mitchell matched for what would be the Indians only score of the first half
- Kotcamp and Lingasin scored in the next two minutes of action as Wingate tripled its lead
- Grieco scored his 40th goal of the season at the 3:48 mark
- Riley's goal from Lingasin put the 'Dogs up 6-1 after the first period

SECOND PERIOD

- Wingate scored twice more in the opening 90 seconds of the second period, as Riley and Padden added to the lead
- Padden broke the two teams' 13-minute drought with a score with under a minute to go that put WU up 9-1

THIRD PERIOD

- Padden scored with 13:41 to go in the third period to cap his unanswered score run at three
- Karnich found the back of the net less than two minutes later to put the Bulldogs up 10
- Catawba scored for the second time on the night at the 8:50 mark
 - Kotcamp won the ensuing face-off and scored six seconds later, which was followed by a Riley goal 17 seconds after that
- Goals from Riley and Jones were separated by a Bakari Neely goal as the Bulldogs took a 15-3 lead after three

FOURTH PERIOD

- Vodovnik scored 11 seconds into the fourth
- The Indians added two scores around the midway point of the period
- Pizzimenti scored off a Thompson assist for Wingate's final score of the night
- Catawba's Christian Norrie scored with 2:29 to go to finalize the score at 17-6

UP NEXT

-The Bulldogs travel to Hickory, N.C. for the SAC Semifinals Friday
- Wingate will take on the eighth-ranked Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne University
- The game is slated for Friday at 7 p.m.
- The winner advances to Sunday's SAC title game in Hickory