BELMONT, NC (April 12, 20007) –Wingate's Mike Bayliss scored an unassisted goal with 2:06 left in the third overtime, scooping up a rebound and firing in his second goal of the afternoon, as the Bulldogs escaped Belmont with a 12-11 win in a 69:54 marathon this afternoon. Wingate improves to 8-4, while the Abbey wraps up the regular season with a 5-8 mark.

The Crusaders had eight players score at least one goal, with three scoring twice. C.J. Robinson, Evan Young and Ryan Matthes all scored twice, while John Fugitt, Jim Ring, James Regan, Doug Homan and Billy Lamb all tallied one. Fugitt, Robinson, Nick Matteo, Tom Ottman and Evan Young all handed out one assist.

Leading 4-3 at the half, the Bulldogs outscored the Abbey 5-4 in the third, scoring the first four goals of the period before the Abbey erased that with four straight goals. Wingate's Greg Williams scored with 3:42 left in the stanza to tie the contest at eight.

Both teams scored three times in the fourth, as Wingate's Bryan Safarik opened the scoring to give the Bulldogs a 9-8 lead. The Abbey would answer with two uanswered goals, the first by Robinson and the second by Matthes, off of a feed from Ottman, who caused a turnover, sprinted into the Bulldogs zone and hit Matthes in stride. Matthes ripped a shot past David Suthers to give the Crusaders a 10-9 lead.

Wingate scored the next two goals 13 seconds apart, the second coming by Bayliss, allowing Wingate to reclaim the lead at 11-10. But 35 seconds later, Robinson found Fugitt all alone just to the left of the Bulldogs cage, and he fired home the tying blast to knot the game at 11.

Neither team scored in the first two sudden death periods, but Wingate was able to get the winner with 2:06 left in the third extra period when Bayliss scooped up a rebound and fired home the winner.

Safarik led the Bulldogs with four goals, while Bayliss finished with a pair as Wingate outshot the Abbey 47-36.

The Abbey is back in action Tuesday when it hosts Pfeiffer in the first round of the 2007 CVAC Tournament. The start time will be determined later this week.

2007-04-13