Wheeling, W.Va. - At the beginning of the year the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team set out a goal to earn one of the top four spots in the Mountain East Conference. With three weeks left in the regular season they are in very good position to do that holding on to the number four spot with a record of 5-5-1 in conference play. However, on Wednesday night they battle the team that is one game below them when they take on West Virginia Wesleyan at 7:00 p.m. The Cardinals look to take their momentum from their homecoming win.

On Saturday, they hosted Frostburg State in a back and forth game where they were able to pick up a 3-2 win. The Cardinals offense got on the board early when Diego Buenano scored in the second minute of the game followed by Kyran Lockwood's first career goal just five minutes later. The Cardinals would concede one first half goal but headed into the locker room up 2-1 at halftime. They got a key insurance goal in the second half when Christian Ruud struck for his fourth goal of the season off a pass from teammate Harry Martin to make it a 3-1 game. Frostburg State would score one more goal in the 77th minute, but Wheeling was able to hold on for the 3-2 win.

It was a big night for the offense as a whole as they put nearly half of their shots on net. They ended up getting out shot by Frostburg State 20-15, but of those 15 shots seven were sent on net. Ruud continued his big season with his career high fourth goal of the year and second game-winning goal. He has been a welcome addition to the Cardinals offense adding goals in big moments. Diego Buenano also continued his strong freshman campaign with his team leading sixth goal of the season. The Cardinals enter play on Saturday as the fourth highest scoring offense in the MEC with 23 goals this season and they look to keep finding the back of the net over these final 3 weeks.

On defense, goalkeeper Austin Aaron had a bounce back game after allowing six goals on Wednesday night in Charleston. He would face eight shots throughout the night and made six saves to secure the win. It was Aaron's second win of the 2022 campaign as he tied his season high with six saves. He and Carlos Molina have been splitting the reps in net over the last few weeks and both have done a nice job of keeping the Cardinals in games this season as a unit the Cardinals have produced a 0.621 save percentage in their 13 games played this season. The goalkeepers along with the Cardinals defense look to limit their opponents throughout these final three weeks.

As it stands now the Cardinals sit forth in the MEC with a record of 5-5-1 in conference play. They're Wednesday night opponent, West Virginia Wesleyan, It's just a tick below wheeling with a record of 4-3-3. With the top six spots in the conference making the tournament The Cardinals are in good standing heading into their final six games. However, they are still fighting for seeding and, if they can get hot, they still have a shot at hosting in the first round of the tournament. Over their final three weeks of play The Cardinals will take on one opponent in position for the MEC tournament while the rest are just sitting outside. Head coach Brandon Regan and his team looked to take care of business so that they can hold their spot in this year's tournament.

The Matchup