Wingate, N.C.----The ninth-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse tournament Tuesday night, defeating Catawba College 17-6 at Graham Gill Field. The Bulldogs improve to 12-3 overall to set up a rematch against #8 Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Semis Friday night, while Catawba's season ends at 5-10 overall. KEY STATS - Wingate out-shot Catawba 52-36 - The Bulldogs held a 31-17 edge in shots on goal - Catawba committed 19 turnovers to WU's 16 - The 'Dogs were 23-of-25 on clear attempts, while the Indians were 19-for-25 - Wingate recorded 51 of 84 ground balls in the contest - The Bulldogs won 19-of-26 face-offs - WU capitalized on both man-up opportunities, while holding the Indians out of the goal in their lone attempt KEY BULLDOGS - Danny Riley paced the 'Dogs offensively, scoring five goals and adding an assist and five ground balls - Bobby Padden scored three goals and had three ground balls - Willie Grieco had a goal and three assists - James Kotcamp picked up a pair of goals, as well as going 10-for-16 with six ground balls - Daman Lingasin recorded a goal and an assist - Donovan Jones won nine-of-10 face-offs, picked up two ground balls and notched a goal - Adam Vodovnik, Zachary Pizzimenti, Joe Karnich and John Natoli found the back of the net for the Bulldogs - Connor Thompson logged an assist - AJ Lohmuller anchored the defense with three ground balls and three caused turnovers - KC Carlson allowed just one goal in the first half, while John Caponi made eight saves in the final 30 minutes NOTES - Wingate makes its sixth consecutive appearance in the SAC Semifinals on Friday - The 'Dogs are 8-1 in the SAC Tournament since 2017 - WU will meet Lenoir-Rhyne in the conference tournament for the fourth straight year - The Bulldogs fell 19-14 in the title game a season ago in Hickory FIRST PERIOD - Natoli got the scoring started for the Bulldogs 25 seconds into the game - Riley added another score at the 11:14 mark to extend the lead - Catawba's Matt Mitchell matched for what would be the Indians only score of the first half - Kotcamp and Lingasin scored in the next two minutes of action as Wingate tripled its lead - Grieco scored his 40th goal of the season at the 3:48 mark - Riley's goal from Lingasin put the 'Dogs up 6-1 after the first period SECOND PERIOD - Wingate scored twice more in the opening 90 seconds of the second period, as Riley and Padden added to the lead - Padden broke the two teams' 13-minute drought with a score with under a minute to go that put WU up 9-1 THIRD PERIOD - Padden scored with 13:41 to go in the third period to cap his unanswered score run at three - Karnich found the back of the net less than two minutes later to put the Bulldogs up 10 - Catawba scored for the second time on the night at the 8:50 mark - Kotcamp won the ensuing face-off and scored six seconds later, which was followed by a Riley goal 17 seconds after that - Goals from Riley and Jones were separated by a Bakari Neely goal as the Bulldogs took a 15-3 lead after three FOURTH PERIOD - Vodovnik scored 11 seconds into the fourth - The Indians added two scores around the midway point of the period - Pizzimenti scored off a Thompson assist for Wingate's final score of the night - Catawba's Christian Norrie scored with 2:29 to go to finalize the score at 17-6 UP NEXT -The Bulldogs travel to Hickory, N.C. for the SAC Semifinals Friday - Wingate will take on the eighth-ranked Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne University - The game is slated for Friday at 7 p.m. - The winner advances to Sunday's SAC title game in Hickory