Brett Kingston scored three of his five goals during a match-ending 4-1 run as nationally ninth-ranked University of Mount Olive pulled away for a 12-7 victory over Wingate University in non-conference men's lacrosse Saturday at Amon Field. Matt Shields added three goals and three assists for the Trojans.
Mount Olive (3-0) held a narrow 8-6 lead before Kingston scored with 2.6 seconds left in the third period. Wingate (0-2) answered with a goal by Andrew Gobble with 9:05 left in the contest, but Mount Olive kept the Bulldogs out of the goal the remainder of the contest.
Kingston scored with 7:13 remaining and added another goal three minutes later to stretch the Trojans' lead to 11-7. Alex Tindall capped the game's scoring with a goal with 29.2 seconds left.
After Mount Olive spotted Wingate the first goal of the contest, Shields scored a pair of goals less than 90 seconds apart to give the Trojans their first lead at 2-1 with 3:48 left in the first period. Ryan Vogrig tied the game for Wingate with 3:06 remaining, but it took Mount Olive only 35 seconds to go back on top to stay as Kingston scored his first goal of the game.
Nico Shewey and Luke Dalman added goals for Mount Olive and Kingston's goal with 12:36 left in the first half capped a 4-0 run and gave the Trojans their biggest lead of the game at 6-2. Wingate pulled within 6-4 at halftime, but the margin never fell below two goals in the second half.
Saturday's contest was originally scheduled for this past Wednesday, but was moved to Saturday due to the weather. Mount Olive had been scheduled to travel to Lees-McRae College Saturday for a Conference Carolinas game, but that contest was rescheduled for March 17.
Mount Olive returns to action Wednesday as the Trojans play host to Coker in a non-conference match-off. Game time is 4 p.m. at Amon Field.