Wheeling, W. Va. - June rolls on as our athletes continue to prepare for another exciting season of action as they compete for conference and national championships. One of the Cardinals teams on the rise is the Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team, who showed a three-game improvement from the previous season and found themselves right in the thick of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) playoff race up until the final two weeks of the season. For today's Saturday Game rewind, we look back at the game that got momentum heading in their direction as they captured a historic overtime win against Felician on March 5th, 2022, their first win at home since the 2018 season.
March 5th, 2022: Wheeling 8, Felician 7 – Overtime
Heading into their fifth game of the season, the Cardinals had shown signs of improvement on the field, but sat at 0-5, 0-1 on the season. In the week prior, Wheeling opened GMAC play against powerhouse Seton Hill and allowed three fewer goals than they did in their matchup a year ago. The offense was starting to come together, led by sophomore's Jacob Knippel and Mike Andersson and freshman Joshua Wolford was playing a solid goalkeeper for the Cardinals. However, they were still looking to put together a full game and they were hoping to do it in front of their home crowd in their second home game of the season.
Wheeling won the game's opening faceoff and sophomore Jake Wodarek immediately took the first shot, missing wide to get things started. Neither offense could find their shot early as the teams battled back and forth, trading the first eight shots of the game while not putting a single shot on net. Then, Felician would break the draw with a goal at the 3:25 mark of the first quarter to take the game's first lead. Instead of letting it get in their heads, the Cardinals came back on the very next faceoff, caused a turnover, and got the ball to Knippel. He would find the net for the Cardinals just 50 seconds later and the game was tied 1-1. Felician would win the ensuing faceoff, but a save from Wolford gave Wheeling the ball back and defenseman Mat Anderson would connect with Brody Fawver for the team's second goal to make it 2-1 with 2:01 left in the first.
Wheeling continued their flurry of late-quarter scoring when Wolford made another strong save to give Wheeling the ball, and once again the Cardinals took advantage as Andersson scored his first goal of the day to make it 3-1. Wheeling would lead by that score heading into the second quarter as the game became a more defensive affair. Knippel and Andersson each missed with wide shots to start the quarter and the teams combined for four turnovers over the first six minutes. However, Wheeling added on to their lead when Brody Fawver scored his second goal of the contest off a pass from Knippel to make it a 4-1 game. The Cardinals rattled off 11 unanswered shots over the final 8:28 of the quarter, but none of them found the net and only one was put on goal. Felician responded with a goal just 32 seconds before halftime to make it 4-2 and it would get the Falcons back in it.
As the teams came out of halftime, the momentum had officially swung to Felician, and they rattled off four straight goals in the third to take a 6-4 lead heading into the fourth. However, despite not scoring, the Cardinals were getting more accurate with their shots, putting four of their seven shots on goal. Wheeling would have to buckle down in the fourth and battle back in the game. After getting the first two shots of the quarter, Dakota Strong got the Cardinals back on the board at the 11:49 mark to make it a 6-5 game. Andersson would give his team the lead by himself with back-to-back goals securing a hat trick and making it a 7-6 Wheeling advantage. However, it took Felician just 30 seconds to respond and at the end of regulation the score sat at 7-7 as the teams headed to overtime.
As overtime began, Wheeling won the opening faceoff and freshman Brenner Chase took the first shot, but it was saved by Felician. The Falcons took the ball back down the field but turned the ball over giving Fawver a chance to win the game, but his shot missed wide as well. Wolford would be tested on the next two Felician possessions coming up with two big saves to keep things tied at 7-7. On the second save, he helped Wheeling clear the ball and get it into their offensive zone. The Falcons left Knippel open on the far side of the field and he took advantage finding the net for his second goal of the day to give Wheeling the 8-7 win.
Knippel was one of three Cardinals players to finish with multi-goal efforts as Brody Fawver (2) and Mike Andersson (3) each added multi-goal efforts. It was the team's first win at Bishop Schmitt Field since they beat Alderson Broaddus back on April 28th, 2018. It helped give them the confidence that they could close out a win and they went on to win their next game the following week. It was a monumental moment for the program and a step in the right direction as they rebuild the Men's Lacrosse program.
Every Saturday this summer we will be highlighting another big game from the 2021-2022 season with our Saturday Game Rewinds. Next week, we highlight a thrilling 15's match as Wheeling Rugby works to a draw with Davenport on some late game heroics.
