HICKORY, N.C. - For the third time this season, longtime rivals Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate will meet in a win-or-go-home matchup in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Moretz Sports Athletic Campus. The two teams have split the two meetings so far this year, with Wingate winning 2-1 in Hickory in the regular season, and the Bears getting revenge in the SAC Tournament semifinals, 1-0. This is the first-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between the two, and the 51st all-time meeting. Wingate leads the all-time series 29-18-3, and the series has been back and forth the past few years. The teams have alternated wins in the last seven meetings, with LR holding a 4-3 edge in those games. 

Wingate narrowly advanced through the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, defeating Converse on penalty kicks. There were two different occasions where Converse could have clinched the game in penalty kicks with a score or a stop, but the Bulldogs were clutch and prevailed each time. SAC Defensive Player of the Year Owen Marshall scored the winner in the sudden death round of penalty kicks to earn the Bulldogs a third meeting with the Bears. Wingate won the SAC regular season championship, prevailing in a log jammed South Atlantic Conference before falling to the Bears in the semifinal of the SAC Tournament and earning the seven seed as an at-large team in Super Region 2 in the NCAA Tournament. Wingate is coached by legendary head coach Gary Hamill, who is in his 31st season at the helm of the Bulldogs. Wingate won the national championship in 2016, the SAC's only national championship in men's soccer. 

On the other side, LR has won five straight games and quickly catapulted themselves from the NCAA Tournament bubble to earning the SAC's automatic NCAA bid with the program's first SAC Tournament title since 2006. LR is the two-seed in Super Region 2, tied for the highest the Bears have ever been seeded. The Bears did not concede a goal in either the semifinal or final of the SAC Tournament. LR features five All-Conference players, including three on the First-Team. Carles Montoliu Lobo earend his third straight First-Team All-Conference honor, Dani Fernandez got his second First-Team honor, and Adrian Martina was on the First-Team in his first year at LR. Oliver Gardner was Second-Team All-Conference, and Luis Hernandez was Third-Team. Hernandez scored the game-winning goal in the SAC Tournament Final against Lincoln Memorial early in the second half. 

These two teams pride themselves on defense. Wingate has conceded only 13 goals in 20 games this year, and Lenoir-Rhyne posted eight clean sheets and conceded just 19 goals on the year. Juan Basabe and Aleksa Janjic match up in goal as two of the top goalkeepers in the region, with Janjic earning First-Team All-Conference honors this year. 

This is just the third home NCAA Tournament game in LR program history, and with a win over the Bulldogs, the Bears would reach the third round of the tournament for the first time in program history. LR is 2-3-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, with the two wins coming in 2006 against Catawba at home, and in 2017 against Tusculum at Pfieffer. 

The Bears and Bulldogs will kick off at 6 p.m. in Hickory on Monday night. The winner will play Barry, and the host site for that game will be the highest seed remaining.