GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Wingate University defeated Tusculum University 20-3 in the South Atlantic Conference regular-season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
The 10th-ranked Bulldogs (11-3, 8-2 SAC) clinched third place in the SAC and will host Catawba in a first-round tournament game on Tuesday, while the Pioneers (9-7, 3-7 SAC) ended the season with single-season team records for goals (223), ground balls (511), faceoff wins (256), saves (243) and man-up goals (32).
Bobby Padden led a balanced Wingate attack with four goals and an assist, Willie Grieco had two goals and six assists and Danny Riley had three goals and two assists for the Bulldogs, who outshot the Pioneers 65-23 and had a 46-25 advantage in ground balls. Wingate was 25-for-27 on clear attempts and scored on both of its man-up opportunities.
Nate Raymond scored two goals and Tristan Kirkham had a man-up goal for the Pioneers, with assists from Jordan Daniel and Nicholas Drennan. Daniel's assist on a man-up goal from Kirkham in the third quarter was the 100th point of his career, making him the ninth player in school history and third this season to reach the milestone.
Wingate led 5-0 after one quarter and stretched its lead to 7-0 before the Pioneers got on the board on a goal from Raymond with 9:27 left in the first quarter. Wingate would build its lead to 12-1 at halftime and 14-1 early in the third, until Raymond's second of the game with 7:36 remaining in the third quarter. Kirkham scored with Tusculum enjoying a two-man advantage with 5:03 left in the third, but that would be the final goal of the day for the Pioneers as Wingate scored twice to close the third and three times in the fourth.
Fred Harbinson had five ground balls on defense for the Pioneers, with two from Will Cookman. Devin Bowen had a pair of caused turnovers for the Pioneers, while Andy Michalski was an even 13-for-26 on faceoffs with 10 ground balls. For Wingate, James Kotcamp was 10-for-18 on faceoffs and had six ground balls, while Grieco and Trent Connolly had five ground balls each for the Bulldogs.
Ross Geiger made 19 saves in goal for the Pioneers to finish the season with a single-season record 225 saves and his career with a school-record 551 stops. Wingate starting keeper KC Carlson had five saves in the first half, while John Caponi had five saves in 26 minutes in the second half and Ashton Loe had no stops over the final 3:41.
Raymond, who stretched his streak of consecutive games with a goal to 26, finished the season with program single-season records of 53 goals and 69 points. Kirkham was second in goals in a season with 46 and tied for third on the single-season list with 58 points, with Wesley Phillips fifth all-time in a season with 54 points.
On the career list, Raymond is sixth in points with 121, followed by Kale Lawrence in eighth with 102 and Daniel in ninth with 100. Raymond's 94 career goals are fourth-most by a Pioneer, with Lawrence in sixth with 80, Lorenz Brown in ninth with 67 and Kirkham tenth with 64. Daniel has moved to second on the career assist list with 59, while Phillips is ninth with 34 after one season.
Michalski ended the year with single-season record for ground balls (145) and faceoff wins (255) and earlier in the year established the program career records with 258 ground balls and 480 faceoff victories. Kirkham finished the season with a school-record 10 man-up goals, and also set the single-season record with 84 shots on goal, one more than Raymond.
