Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling Women's Soccer team (0-3, 0-1) opened Mountain East Conference (MEC) play on Wednesday night when they hosted Fairmont State. The Cardinals got on the board with a late goal in the second half, but it wasn't enough to secure the win as they fell to the Falcons 2-1. Wheeling continued to show fight late in the game and look to use that to continue to grow on the field.

After trailing 2-0 heading into halftime, the Cardinals were looking for a way to get on the board quickly in the second half. The Cardinals began to create more opportunities and nearly got on the board in the 55th minute when Caryn Goins sent a shot to the top right corner of the net that was knocked away. As a team, Wheeling got more shots off in that second half, shooting eight times and putting all eight of those shots on net. Meanwhile, Mikayla Yarwood remained solid in net and bailed her team out with five saves and no goals allowed in the second half of the game.

The Cardinals would reward Yarwood for his work in the 77th minute after a Fairmont State foul gave the Cardinals possession. Six minutes later, Talynn DeBartolo got the ball and shit the ball towards the net. It snuck in the lower corner of the net and Wheeling cut the deficit to 2-1. With 13 minutes still showing on the clock, the Cardinals still had time to tie the contest. In the final 10 minutes of the game, the Cardinals had two big scoring chances courtesy of Braedynn Porter and Mary DiFonzo. Both took shots, one in the 84th minute and one in the 88th minute, but neither found the back of the net. In the end, the Cardinals fell 2-1 and moved to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play. 

Early on, the ball was going back and forth as both teams had several throw-in opportunities through the first six minutes of play. The first shot came courtesy of Fairmont State in the game's sixth minute. The Falcons got off the first four shots of the game and would capitalize with the game's first goal in the 17th minute. With the Cardinals down 1-0 early, the offense began to find opportunities and move the ball up field. On what looked to be a normal ball out of bounds play, sophomore Talynn DeBartolo kept the ball fair and moved it up the field. It turned into Wheeling's first shot of the day as Kenadee Burgoyne shot wide of the net.

It was the first of three shots in the first half for the Cardinals as they slowly got the offense going. After allowing the first goal, Mikayla Yarwood was solid in net, making three big saves to keep it a 1-0 game over the next 26 minutes. However, the Cardinals couldn't tie the game and Fairmont State would add another goal in the 43rd minute that increased their lead to 2-0. They would hold that lead until the hake and went on to keep the lead over the final 45 minutes of the game to secure the win.

Talynn DeBartolo led the offensive effort, scoring the lone goal while taking two shots, both on goal. Kenadee Burgoyne added two shots on the day, putting one on net, and Mary DiFonzo added two shots on goal of her own. Mikayla Yarwood finished with nine saves on 11 shots as she lowered her number to 31 saves to achieve the program career saves record.

The Wheeling University Women's Soccer team returns to action on Saturday, September 10th when they hit the road to face Frostburg State at 5 PM.