GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum women's lacrosse team will face Wingate in the opening round of the South Atlantic Conference Championship tournament on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Graham Gill Field on the Wingate campus.
The Pioneers (6-10, 4-4 SAC) finished tied for fourth place in the conference standings with the Bulldogs (5-12, 4-4 SAC), but Wingate earned the better seed and home-field advantage on the strength of its 17-14 win in the regular-season meeting on April 14.
Tusculum has qualified for the SAC Championship tournament in each of its first four seasons, compiling a 1-2 record in three previous first-round games and an overall mark of 1-3. The Pioneers' lone win in the SAC tournament came in 2016 when Tusculum defeated Brevard 15-8 in the opening round. Last year, Tusculum rallied from seven goals down to tie Coker before the Cobras won 18-17 to advance to the semifinals.
Wingate is also making its fourth appearance in as many years in the SAC Championship, winning its first-ever conference tournament game last year against Coker 15-14 in the semifinals before falling to three-time defending champion Queens by a 16-0 score in the finals.
The Bulldogs lead the all-time series over the Pioneers by a 3-1 margin, winning each of the last three regular-season matchups by a total of seven goals. The teams are tied 1-1 all-time in games played at Wingate, with Tusculum winning 16-11 in the first-ever matchup in 2015 before falling 16-13 in 2016.
The winner of Tuesday's game will play top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne in the semifinals on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Wingate. Queens, the second seed and three-time defending champion, will play the winner of Tuesday's game between third-seeded Catawba and sixth-seeded Lincoln Memorial on Friday at 7 p.m., also at Wingate. The championship match will be played on Sunday at 4 p.m.
2018 South Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship
Tuesday, April 24
Game 1: #5 Tusculum at #4 Wingate, 4:00pm
Game 2: #6 Lincoln Memorial at #3 Catawba, 4:00pm
Friday, April 27 (at Wingate, N.C.)
Game 5: winner game 1 vs. #1 Lenoir-Rhyne, 4:30pm
Game 6: winner game 3 vs. #2 Queens, 7:00pm
Sunday, April 29 (at Wingate, N.C.)
Game 7: winner game 5 vs. winner game 6, 4:00pm