By Kevin De La Garza
Contributing Writer
Midfielder Camilo Salazar converted a 68th-minute penalty kick to give the Wingate Bulldogs a 1-0 win over the Tusculum Pioneers on Saturday afternoon at Pride Park, securing the Bulldogs’ first South Atlantic Conference win of the season.
The victory ended Wingate’s five-game winless streak and brought its conference total to five points. Before kickoff, the Bulldogs sat in 10th place out of 11 teams in the SAC standings; only the top eight qualify for the conference tournament that begins Oct. 31. Heading into it Oct. 14 game at home with Mount Olive, the ’Dogs were 4-5-2 overall and 1-4-2 in the conference.
Following a Wingate free kick, Tusculum was called for a handball in the box. Salazar, returning from a knee injury, stepped up and scored the penalty with a shot down the middle of the goal.
“All I could think about was scoring, and what side I was choosing,” said Salazar, a 5-9 junior from Colombia. “I was so determined to score because we needed the goal a lot. It feels great, one of the best moments and feelings I have ever experienced.”
Salazar acknowledged the mental hurdle of returning from injury.
“The knee felt great during the game,” he said. “There are moments where you always think about getting injured again, and that holds you back in some way, but I just tried to keep going.”
Wingate dominated the attack, outshooting the Pioneers 15-8 and taking seven of nine corner kicks. Junior forwards Lucca Burger Torres and David Serdynski led the offense with four and three shots, respectively.
Freshman goalkeeper Cole Freeman made four saves and registered his third clean sheet of the season. “It feels great [to get a win], but it’s also a standard that we need to strive for in every game,” he said. “The last four games are a must-win for us. We want to go into the SAC Tournament fully healthy and with a huge swing of momentum.”
