Wingate University advanced to the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer championship match for the fourth consecutive year with a 3-0 victory over Tusculum College in semifinal action Friday night at Manchester Meadows.

SAC Player of the Year Jade Montgomery, Chandler Murphy and Brooke Howell each had a goal and an assist for the Bulldogs (14-2-3), who will play Lincoln Memorial for the championship on Sunday at 4 p.m. after the Railsplitters upset top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 2-0 in the other semifinal match.

The Pioneers (10-7-3) were eliminated by the Bulldogs in the semifinals for the second straight year and the third time in the last four years. Tusculum completed its 16th consecutive non-losing season and 16th season of 10 or more victories in the 17-year tenure of head coach Mike Joy.

Wingate took the first four shots of the match, and finally broke through in the 19th minute as Montgomery scored her 14th goal of the season on a line drive from the top of the box. The goal at 18:06, assisted by Howell and Murphy, broke the scoreless streak of Pioneer keeper Marissa Williams at 499 minutes, 5 seconds dating to Oct. 19 against Lenoir-Rhyne, a span that included five shutouts.

The Pioneers put pressure on the Bulldog goal in the final minutes of the first half, but left the field trailing 1-0 despite being outshot 10-3 by Wingate in the half.

Murphy doubled the Wingate lead at 52:03 as she collected a loose ball and beat Williams to the corner of the goal for her fifth of the season. Tusculum tried to climb back into the match with a late flurry of shots, but Wingate keeper Ashlyn Hardie made three saves in a span of less than two minutes to keep the Bulldogs up by two.

With the Pioneers all up, the Bulldogs were able to tack on an insurance goal with 57 seconds left as Montgomery led Howell from midfield one on one with Williams. Howell found the back of the net for her eighth of the season to set the final score at 3-0.

Wingate finished the match with a 19-8 shot advantage over Tusculum, while both teams took five corner kicks. The Bulldogs were flagged four times for offsides and had nine fouls called against them to five for the Pioneers.

Williams ended up with four saves in the match for the Pioneers, while Hardie tallied five stops for the Bulldogs. Williams finished the season with a stellar 0.89 goals against average (sixth-lowest in a season in program history) along with 11 shutouts, one shy of the Tusculum season record of 12 set in 2006 by Whitney Wardrop.