Wheeling, W. Va. - A win or a West Liberty loss was all the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (7-9-1, 7-7-1) needed heading into Wednesday night in order to clinch a home playoff game in the first round of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) tournament. The Hilltoppers won their game but Wheeling did their part as they defeated Alderson broadus 9-4 at Bishop Schmidt Field to clinch the home playoff berth. Seven different Cardinals scored in the game as they set their new season high with nine goals in the win.

It didn't take long for the Cardinals to get on the board as in the game's fifth minute the Cardinals had it in their offensive zone. After a couple of shots were deflected Richard Afolayanka found the net at the 5:48 mark to get Wheeling a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later Wheeling's other top scorer, Diego Buenano, would get a shot after receiving a pass from Salem Mwelwa. Buenano took advantage and found the net in the 9th minute and Wheeling's lead was suddenly 2-0. The Cardinals would stick to that 2-0 lead for the next 10 minutes before Christian Ruud got it on the action with his first goal of the night that made it 3-0. Ruud was at it again 11 minutes later As he scored his second goal of the game and the Cardinals found themselves up 4-0 in the 30th minute.

The Battler's got on the board in the game's 37th minute, as head coach Brandon Regan began to go to his bench. Even as Wheeling subbed out, their bench players came in and had success. In the 42nd minute, freshman Florian Regent would receive a pass from senior Gerardo Lopez and found the net for his first collegiate goal to make it 5-1. Three minutes later Lopez got his shot and scored from 20 yards out to make it 6-1, as he picked up his first collegiate goal on senior day. The offense was clicking on all cylinders for Wheeling, out shooting Alderson Broaddus 10-4 in the half, and went into half time up 6-1.

Many of the Cardinals starters would sit out in the second half but the offense just continued to score. In the 49th minute, Christian Ruud had the ball again and found Richard Afolayanka in front of the net. He picked up his second goal of the day, his second multi-goal game of the year, and Wheeling was ahead 7-1. Nine minutes later, and with more subs in the game, Lucas Yoshikan brought the ball up and was set up at the 10 yd line on the near side of the field. Yoshikan took the shot and made it into the right corner of the net as wheeling went up 8-1. The final Cardinal goal of the day came from their other senior Miguel Martin in the 69th minute when he found the net to make it a 9-1 game. Alderson Broaddus would add three more goals but it wasn't enough as Wheeling held on to win 9-4 and clinched that home playoff spot.

While seven Cardinals score goals in the game, even more ended up taking shots on the night with 14 different players finishing with at least one shot. Every active player on Wheeling's roster got in the game including the collegiate debuts of Andrew Schmidt and Alex Papanikolas. The Cardinals offense was led by a pair of multi-goal games from Richard Afolayanka and Christian Ruud. Other goals for the Cardinals came courtesy of Diego Buenano, Miguel Martin, Lucas Yoshikan, Florian Regent, and Gerardo Lopez. The Cardinals were fairly efficient throughout the night, putting 15 of their 21 total shots on net. Wheeling has one more regular season game on tap but will prepare for their first home playoff game since the 2013 season when they hosted the semifinal round of the inaugural MEC tournament.