Wheeling, W. Va. – After coming off a big home win last time out, the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (2-5, 0-1) made it two in a row on Saturday when they beat St. Thomas Aquinas 14-3. The offense exploded for a season-high six goals in the second quarter and rode that momentum to their second win of the season.

It was a big day for sophomore attacker Mike Andersson, who tied the single-game record with seven goals in the win. He tied Wheeling Lacrosse Alumnus Derek Downs, who spent some time in the National Lacrosse League with the New York Riptide, for the most goals scored in a single game. Andersson scored four of his seven goals in the six-goal second quarter and equaled the most goals scored in a game since Downs scored seven goals against Florida Tech on March 4th, 2017. Anderson was one of three multi-goal scorers for the Cardinals, with Jake Wodarek (3) and Brody Fawver (2) each scoring on multiple occasions.

Freshman Ty Taylor wrapped up the day with his first career goal.
Wheeling was looking to keep the momentum going from their thrilling overtime win and were first on the board this afternoon. The Cardinals controlled the ball early, taking three shots in the first 10 minutes of the game. Jake Wodarek would then get the ball in his hands and broke towards the net. He took his shot and found the back of the net to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. The team's went back and forth for the rest of that first quarter with the teams trading the next four shots. With 30 seconds left in the first quarter, Andersson got started with the first of his seven goals on the night. Matt Andersn brought the ball up the field and fed Andersson who found the net and gave Wheeling a 2-0 lead after one.

The second quarter began the same way the first quarter ended when Andersson got a pass from Wodarek and made it a 3-0 lead. Two minutes later, Wodarek was back on the board when he took a pass from Jacob Knippel and Wheeling upped their lead to 4-0. The Cardinals wrapped up the early second quarter scoring frenzy when Andersson reached the hat trick with his third goal of the day. Brody Fawver got the assist and Wheeling led 5-0 with 11 minutes left before the half. Three minutes later, Knippel was on the board for the first time on the day at the seven minute mark and Wheeling had a 6-0 lead. The Spartans scored their first goal of the day at the six minute mark, and Andersson scored two more goals in the final two minutes as Wheeling went into halftime leading 8-1.

As the second half got underway, Wodarek became the second Cardinal with a hat trick on the day when he notched a goal two minutes into the third. After that, things slowed down a little as neither team got on the board over the next six minutes if play. The Spartans broke the drought with a goal at the seven minute mark that made it a 9-2 game. Neither team would score for the final seven minutes, and Wheeling went into the fourth leading by that same score. Andersson still sat at five goals heading into the final 10 minutes of play. St. Thomas Aquinas scored one more goal in the fouth quarter, but the focus would turn to the record.

However, the fourth quarter began with sophomore Brody Fawver getting it going on the offensive side of the ball. His first goal came at the 11-minute mark of the fourth quarter off the pass from Knippel. Five minutes later, Fawver scored again on another pass from Knippel and turned a 9-2 game into an 11-2 game. Then, Mike Andersson got within one goal of the record when he put an unassisted goal into the net. He would tie the record at the 2:50 mark off a pass from Adam Zdanowicz to bring it to 13-3. While the final goal wasn't a record breaker, it was a big goal got freshman Ty Taylor. Taylor scored his first collegiate goal with under a minute to play and brought the final score to 14-3.

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, March 19th, when they battle Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) opponent Mercyhurst at 3 PM