WINGATE, N.C. --- Two goals from Soren Nygaard in the second half were enough for Wingate University to defeat Tusculum University 2-0 in South Atlantic Conference men's soccer action Saturday night.
Nygaard scored in the 57th and 89th minutes for the Bulldogs (6-6-1, 4-4-1 SAC), who had a 10-5 shot advantage over the Pioneers in the match. The contest was a physical affair, with the teams combining for 43 fouls and eight cautions.
Nygaard's first goal came on a chip past Tusculum keeper Bruno De Freitas, and his second goal with 1:20 left was a blast from the top of the box that eluded De Freitas. Wingate keeper Jens Bergendorff had three saves on his clean sheet, while De Freitas had two saves for the Pioneers.
Offense was nearly non-existant in the first half, with neither team attempting a shot until the 20th minute when the Bulldogs misfired on headers from Niclas Wittur and Owen Marshall. The only shot on goal of the first half for either team came in the 34th minute, but Bergendorff was able to cleanly collect an attempt from distance from Tusculum's Ignacio Alconchel.
The first shot on goal of the match for Wingate was in the 50th minute, as a free kick from the Bulldogs' Pedro Santos was stopped by De Freitas. In the 57th minute, a turnover at midfield was collected by Wingate's Joao Monteiro and passed to Nygaard, whose shot from 35 yards lofted over De Freitas and into the net.
Alconchel had another scoring attempt in the 62nd minute but Bergendorff made the save for the Bulldogs. Tusculum had another look in the 64th minute, but a header by Levi Vasconcelos off a Rodrigo Pascual corner kick was wide of target.
De Freitas collected his third save of the evening on an attempt by Ricardo Cardozo in the 74th minute, while Bergendorff saved an attempt from Vasconcelos in the 84th minute, with the rebound attempt by Pedro Concheso going high of the target.
With Tusculum pressing for the equalizer, Wingate put the match away in the 89th minute as Reise Corpuz delivered a through ball to Nygaard, whose shot through two defenders at the top of the box found the net for his second of the night and sixth of the season.
The final foul total in the match was 25-18 in favor of Wingate, while both teams were shown four yellow cards. Tusculum had a 2-1 edge in corner kicks in the contest.
The Pioneers will return home for their final two matches of the 2021 regular season, with Catawba on the schedule for next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The Indians (7-5-2, 3-5-1 SAC) defeated Lincoln Memorial 5-4 in double overtime on Saturday, playing a man down in extra time after a red card led to the tying goal for the Railsplitters with 22 seconds left in regulation.
