Philippi, W. Va. – The long stretch of road games to start the season for Wheeling Men's Soccer has come and gone as the Cardinals (1-2, 1-1) battled Alderson Broaddus on Sunday. After not scoring a goal in either of their first two games of the season, the offense exploded for four goals as they took down the Battlers 4-0. The Cardinals evened up their conference record, moving to 1-1 as they get set for their home opener this Wednesday.

For the first 17 minutes of the game, neither team got off a shot as possession went back and forth. The Cardinals would get the first shot of the game in the 17th minute when Armando Loynaz took a shot that went wide right. The Cardinals put two more shots on goal from Salem Mwelwa and Harry Martin before they got on the board. In the 28th minute, the Cardinals would attempt a corner kick and Richard Afolayanka would put it in the net for the Cardinals first goal or the day to make it 1-0. After the next kickoff, the Cardinals immediately took advantage as seconds later Harry Martin broke free and found the net to make it a 2-0 game. As the half was getting ready to end, the Cardinals would take advantage of a Battler foul in the 43rd minute. Christian Ruud would take a shot and found the back of the net with 44 seconds to go and the Cardinals went into halftime leading 3-0.

The Cardinals offense was as busy as it has been all season in that first half, outshooting the Battlers 10-5 over the first 45 minutes of play. Carlos Molina got his first start in net of the season, and played well holding the Battlers off the board throughout the day. He made his lone save of the day in the first half and didn't face any shots on goal in the second half. The Cardinals offense didn't take long to get going in the half as their 2021 goal leader was back at it. Afolayanka got the ball after a Alderson Broaddus foul and scored his second goal of the day to make it a 4-0 game. The Cardinals continued to outshoot Alderson Broaddus throughout the second half, taking eight shots compared to the Battlers five, but they couldn't find the net for the rest of the second half. Molina finished out the shutout in net and the Cardinals would win 4-0 to improve to 1-1 in MEC play.

Richard Afolayanka  led the way for the Cardinals, finishing with two goals on three shots, putting all three of those shots on goal. Christian Ruud and Harry Martin each added their first goals of the season to round out the scoring. Molina got the team's first win of the season and first shutout, while making one save on the Battlers' lone shot on net.

The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team returns home for their home opener when they take on West Virginia Wesleyan on Wednesday, September 7th, with the opening kick-off scheduled for 7:30 PM.