Lions Fall to Wingate in SAC Opener

WINGATE, N.C. – The Mars Hill men's lacrosse team opened up South Atlantic Conference play with a 12-7 defeat at the hands of the Wingate Bulldogs on Saturday, March 04 at Graham Gill Field. The Lions drop to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the SAC, while Wingate improves to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the league.

Dima Ferreira and Alex Lipsky led the Lions with two goals and one assist each, while Nathan Stewart added one goal and two assists and collected a team-high eight groundballs. Asyck Schildt and Kyle Dozzi chipped in two caused turnovers. Ryan Kearney (2-2) was tagged with the loss after playing all 60 minutes in goal, surrendering 12 goals and collecting 12 saves.

Austin Murphy led the Bulldogs with three goals and one assist, while Wyatt Weiseman tallied eight groundballs. Will Sheridan (3-1) earned the win after netting 60 minutes and totaling 11 saves while allowing seven goals.

Josh Bryers gave the Lions the early lead after he beat the keeper at the 13:16 mark of the opening period, set up nicely by Connor Fernandes. However, Wingate came back with four unanswered goals to take a commanding 4-1 lead. Ferreira put an end to the scoring run, tallying a score with 16 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Back-to-back goals by Hunter Maggs and Lipsky knotted the contest at 4-all just three minutes into the second quarter. Stewart put the Lions back in front with one of his scores with 7:24 remaining before the half. Wingate collected a man-up goal to even the score at 5-5 and the two teams went into the locker room with that same score.

Ferreira opened the scoring in the second half with a laser past the Bulldogs keeper, but WU came right back with a score of its own with two minutes remaining in the third, sending the teams to the final stanza deadlocked at 6-6.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Bulldogs. Wingate scored the first six goals of the quarter to take a comfortable 12-6 advantage. Lipsky added a goal at the 3:34 mark, but it was too little, too late as the Lions went on to drop the contest 12-7.

Mars Hill will be back in action on Saturday, March 11 as they play host to the Royals of Queens University. The contest is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.