Wheeling, W. Va. - It came down to the wire on Saturday night, but the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (2-0, 1-0) scored a season-opening win over Alderson Broaddus on Saturday 3-2. Miguel Martin gave Wheeling the goal they needed in the 72nd minute, and the Cardinals held on from there for the victory.

After an Alderson Broaddus corner kick, Wheeling created a turnover and started driving the ball up the field. Sophomore Richard Afolayanka brought the ball past midfield and into Alderson Broaddus territory. He was able to find Miguel Martin on a crosser and Martin did the rest finding the back of the net to bring the score to Wheeling 3, Battlers 2. Wheeling would hold on from there and earned their first Mountain East Conference (MEC) victory of the season.

For Martin, it was his first game-winning goal of the season and capped off a two-score night for the senior. He didn't take many shots in the game, but the ones that he did he made count. He was a perfect 3-3 in shots on goal as he started and ended the Cardinals scoring. He helped get the momentum on the Cardinal's side as they start their run through the MEC.

Martin's first goal came in the 28th minute after Alderson Broaddus was in control for most of the first half. They continually drove the ball into Cardinal territory but weren't finding the net. The Cardinals were able to weather the storm and Martin took a pass from Martin Jacobsen and found the net to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. 11 minutes later Wheeling was back at it again when Harry Martin took a pass from Martin Jacobsen and found the back of the net to give Wheeling a 2-0 lead and would go into halftime leading by that score.

However, as their name implies, the Battlers battled back in the second half thanks to the work of Nathan Djona. Djona got the Battlers on the board in the 56th minute and would go on to tie the game six minutes later to bring the score to 2-2. The teams went back and forth from there before Martin found the net to end the game in dramatic fashion.

Harry Firth got his first start of the season and earned the win making eight saves on 10 shots on net. Wheeling was outshot in the game 24-12, but the more accurate team prevailed as Alderson Broaddus had trouble finding the net throughout the night.

The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team heads on the road as they continue MEC play on September 15th when they face West Virginia Wesleyan at 4 PM.