Wingate, LMU Move on to SAC Soccer Championship Women’s Final

No. 2 Wingate 3, No. 3 Tusculum 0

Jade Montgomery, Brooke Howell and Chandler Murphy each recorded a goal and an assist as Wingate moved on to the SAC Soccer Championship women's final with a 3-0 victory over Tusculum.

Wingate will look to win its second SAC Championship title in three years on Sunday at 4 p.m. when it faces off against Lincoln Memorial in Rock Hill.

Montgomery – the SAC Player of the Year - got Wingate on the board in the 19th minute, scoring her conference-leading 14th goal of the season. Both teams then remained scoreless until the 53rd minute when Murphy beat Tusculum keeper Marissa Williams for her fifth score this year.

Howell later added an insurance goal – her eighth - for the Bulldogs in the 90th minute, giving WU its 14th victory on the season.

Wingate keeper Ashlyn Hardie – the SAC leader in in goals against average – recorded five saves in the shutout. Williams, meanwhile, had four saves for the Pioneers.

No. 5 Lincoln Memorial 2, No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne 0

Lincoln Memorial scored two goals in a span of just over three minutes in the second half to pull the upset over top-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Women's Soccer Championship semifinals.

The Railsplitters, who finished fifth in the SAC regular-season standings at 6-5, will be seeking their first conference tournament title since 2007 on Sunday against Wingate. WU beat LMU, 3-1, on Nov. 2 in Harrogate.

LMU broke a scoreless tie in the 65th minute on a Nicole McKinney goal. It then took LMU just 3:14 to score again when Rachel Vienneau emerged from a scrum in front of the goal and trickled the ball past L-R keeper Genny Little.

The Railsplitters' offensive output marked just the second time this season Lenoir-Rhyne – the event's defending champions - had allowed two goals to a SAC opponent. The Bears allowed only six total goals this season in league play.

L-R outshot LMU 6-3, but Railsplitter keeper Kayla Stephens made five saves to preserve the shutout.