Wingate Advances in NCAA Men's Soccer Championship with Win over Montevallo

GREENWOOD, S.C. - The fourth-seeded Wingate University Bulldogs scored three goals in the first 20 minutes of action to knock off fifth-seeded Montevallo, 3-1, in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship southeast regional.

The Bulldogs move on to the second round to play regional host and number one seed Lander on Sunday at 2 p.m. Wingate (11-5-1) beat the Bearcats 1-0 back on Sept. 12 at the WU Soccer Complex. Montevallo ends its season at 13-5-2.

"I'm very proud of our team tonight," said Wingate head coach Gary Hamill."It was a dissapointing end to the regular season and it would have been very easy not to compete tonight but the mood has been good every since Monday night. We were able to jump on them early with three good goals and even though we had to defende heavily the last 20 minutes, it was a well deserved win."

Wingate managed just one goal in the their final four matches of the season but the Bulldogs, who start seven underclassmen, didn't show any nerves in the early moments on Friday night. Freshman all-conference defender Victor Tozelli netted his first career NCAA goal just 2:27 into the match to give Wingate a lead they would not surrender. Junior midfielder Gui Andrade served a corner into the box for his fourth assist on the season.

The 'Dogs would add to it 17 minutes later thanks to an unassisted goal from sophomore Peron Da Silva. Da Silva put away a loose ball inside the box, scoring his team leading sixth goal of 2012. It was his first since October 6. Wingate added their third and final goal of the night 92 seconds later in the 20th minute to take a 3-0 lead. Freshman midfielder Sean Gadsby headed home his first career goal on a cross to the back post from Andrade.

Montevallo turned up the pressure in the final 25 minutes of the first half, taking three shots and five corner kicks but Wingate sophomore goalkeeper Daniel DeGraff kept the clean sheet into the halftime break.

The Falcons would get on the board six minutes into the second half to make it 3-1. Montevallo freshman forward Pierrie Omanga (Paris, France) scored on a pentaly kick after a Wingate hand ball. DeGraff finished with two saves while Falcon goalkeeperBrenden Ledgeway finished with one stop.

Wingate was outshot 12-7 in the match, including 9-1 in the second half. The 'Dogs had a 4-3 advantage on shots on goal while Montevallo had a 12-2 advantage on corner kicks.

The Bulldogs pick up their second NCAA win in the last four seasons, both against Peach Belt Conference teams. Wingate beat Flagler 4-0 in 2009 before falling in the second round. The Bulldogs are the only South Atlantic Conference team to advance into the second round. UNC Pembroke and Flagler will also play Sunday afternoon. The winner of that match will play the winner of the Wingate match next weekend at a site to be determined.

Hamill expects another great contest with the Bearcats on Sunday. "Lander is a good side and will be another tough test for us," he added. "They are well rested but we have momentum that we are going to ride into the match and we will approcach it the same way as tonight."

- Wingate media relations