NCAA D2 Men's Soccer Bracket

Indianapolis, Ind.----For the second straight year and eighth time in the last 10 years, the Wingate University Bulldogs have earned a bid to the NCAA Division II men's soccer tournament. Wingate is the number three seed in the NCAA Super Region 2, opening NCAA Tourney play Saturday at 3 p.m. against West Florida at Pride Park in Wingate. The Bulldogs enter tournament play 12-4-2 overall, capturing the regular season SAC title for the 10th time in program history.

Limestone is the number one seed in the regional, followed by Florida Tech, Wingate, Barry and Lincoln Memorial. West Florida is the six seed, with Lynn, Clayton State, Lenoir-Rhyne and Chowan rounding out the regional.

Wingate earned an at-large bid last season, advancing through the first two rounds in PKs to advance to the regional semifinals in Florida. The back-to-back regular season SAC champions are making their 12th NCAA Tournament appearance all-time. Wingate won the national championship in 2016, while advancing to the regional finals in 2019. The Bulldogs are 12-9-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament action. The 'Dogs had their 10-match unbeaten streak snapped in the SAC title match Sunday in Matthews. Wingate was ranked #8 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll.

The Bulldogs are led by a pair of SAC Defensive Players of the Year. Pedro Santos won the honor this year, while Owen Marshall took home the hardware last season. Both are first team All-SAC honorees this year, helping Wingate rank second in the league in goals-against average during conference play. Goalkeeper Aleksa Janjic was also a first team All-SAC selection, with defender Dennis Hamzic earning third team accolades.

SAC Freshman of the Year and first team all-conference honoree Pablo Pozos leads the Bulldogs with nine goals and six assists for a team-best 24 points. Second team All-SAC selection Kosi Mafela has six goals, with Tajay Grant adding three goals and five assists. Zach Panagiotou has also netted three goals. Harry Bircumshaw is an All-SAC midfielder, collecting a goal and three assists on the season.

Wingate and West Florida will meet in the opener Saturday at 3 p.m. at Pride Park. Lynn and Chowan will meet on Thursday at Florida Tech. The winner of that match will face Florida Tech, with the winner of that match meeting the WU-UWF winner next week.

For more information throughout the week, go to wingatebulldogs.com and follow @WU_Bulldogs on Twitter.

NCAA Super Region 2

Thursday, Nov. 16 (at Limestone)
1 p.m. | #8 Clayton State vs. #9 Lenoir-Rhyne

Thursday, Nov. 16 (at Florida Tech)
6 p.m. | #7 Lynn vs. #10 Chowan

Saturday, Nov. 18 (at Limestone)
2 p.m. | #1 Limestone vs. CSU-LR Winner

Saturday, Nov. 18 (at Florida Tech)
6 p.m. | #2 Florida Tech vs. LU-CU Winner

Saturday, Nov. 18 (at Wingate)
3 p.m. | #3 Wingate vs. #6 West Florida

Saturday, Nov. 18 (at Barry)
6 p.m. | #4 Barry vs. #5 Lincoln Memorial