WINGATE, N.C. --- Ryan Vogrig led a balanced Wingate University attack with four second-half goals as the Bulldogs defeated Tusculum College 15-3 in a South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse match Saturday afternoon.
Austin Murphy had two goals and four assists for a team-high six points while Tanner Kotch added two goals and three assists for the Bulldogs (7-6, 2-5 SAC), who led 4-0 after one quarter and 7-2 at halftime. Wingate then outscored the Pioneers (4-8, 0-7 SAC) by an 8-1 margin in the second half, as Vogrig scored four times and Murphy had three of his four assists.
Ben Boyd scored all three goals for the Pioneers, who were outshot 40-22 and beaten by Wingate on 18 of the game's 22 faceoffs. Wingate also finished the game with a 46-18 advantage in ground balls over Tusculum.
Boyd's first goal came with 9:55 left in the second quarter off an assist by David Fernandes and stopped a run of six straight tallies to open the game by the Bulldogs. His second goal was with 1:46 remaining in the half following a feed from Steven Raimondi, and sent the teams to the break with Wingate on top 7-2.
In the third quarter, Boyd netted his third of the game and team-best 22nd of the season with 4:18 on the clock to cut the Wingate advantage to 10-3.
Sharing the team lead with three ground balls apiece were Justin Albertson, Jake Smith and Thomas Loudon, the latter also going 4-for-6 on faceoffs. Coogan Lethco had a pair of caused turnovers and collected two ground balls for the Pioneers in the contest.
Leading the way for Wingate was Bryce Sneed, who gathered 14 ground balls and finished 17-for-21 on faceoffs, while adding a goal and two assists on offense. Drew Thompson had four ground balls and four caused turnovers for the Bulldogs.
John Perrucci played in goal for the Pioneers and finished with 19 saves, while the tandem of Michael Connor (11 saves) and Jacob Ormerod (1 save) saw time between the pipes for the Bulldogs.
Tusculum will close out its inaugural season of men's lacrosse on Thursday, April 24 when the Pioneers host Alderson-Broaddus at Pioneer Field for a 7 p.m. non-conference game.
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