Wheeling, W. Va. – It was a showdown on a cold October night at Bishop Schmitt Field as the Wheeling Men's Soccer team (1-11-2, 0-9-2) took on #12 Notre Dame College. The Cardinals had an early onslaught of offense and used that to draw even with the Falcons at 3-3. Wheeling was strong on both sides of the ball throughout the night as they put together their best performance of the season so far.

In the first meeting of the year between the two teams, Notre Dame College scored three goals in the first nine minutes of play. This time around, the Cardinals defense stiffened up with Goalkeeper Carlos Molina coming through with a big save. The Falcons would draw a Penalty Kick in the eighth minute, but it went through the field goal uprights and shifted the momentum Wheeling's way. The Cardinals started firing off shots in the 11th minute and the third one found the back of the net. After a shot by Salem Mwelwa was blocked, Jon-Michael Gordon took the rebound and found the back of the net to put Wheeling up 1-0. It gave the Cardinals the advantage and, when Notre Dame College doesn't score first they were 0-2-2 entering play.

The flurry of shots would slow down over the next nine minutes, with Notre Dame College taking the only shot during that time. In the 23rd minute, Richard Afolayanka made a run at the net and Heard a penalty kick opportunity. He would sail it into the bottom right corner of the net for his first goal of 2023 and extended the Cardinals lead to 2-0. The Cardinals would keep the pressure on Notre Dame College as they got off one more shot and a pair of corner kicks following the penalty kick goal. In the 32nd minute, the wheeling offense pushed up the field as Jon-Michael Gordon came up The far side of the field. He sent a crosser to the waiting Afolayanka, who found the back of the net for the second time on the night giving Wheeling a 3-0 lead.

The Falcons got off two more shots on goal over the final 12 minutes of the half, but goalkeeper Carlos Molina came up with two big saves to keep Wheeling ahead. The Cardinals entered the locker room with a 3-0 lead and with their Mountain East Conference (MEC) tournament hopes on the line They look to hold off the #12 team in the country. In the first half, the shots were pretty even with Notre Dame College out shooting the Cardinals 8-6. However, As things shifted to the second half Notre Dame College started to find their groove out shooting Wheeling 15-4 over the final 45 minutes. As the second half kicked off, The Falcons began to find the net putting three shots on goal over the first 20 minutes.

However, Carlos Molina made three big saves during the Run to preserve his shut out effort. It was a big half for the junior, as he made eight saves on 11 shots face over those final 45 minutes of play to preserve the tie for the Cardinals. The first Falcon goal of the night would come in the 63rd minute when Higor Xisto would turn in a successful penalty kick opportunity to make it a 3-1 game. Notre Dame College was back on the board three minutes later as a Wheeling foul Set up the second goal with Notre Dame College making it a 3-2 game. It would remain a one goal game until the final minutes of the half after after Molina made a big save in the 86th minute. He was unable to stop the shot that came one minute later from Carlos Alameda and the Falcons tied the game at 3-3. The Cardinals would have one near goal In the 89th minute as Afolayanka took one more shot but it was saved and the game would end in a tie.

Lean away for the Cardinals was senior Richard Afolayanka, who scored two goals to lead the way in the effort. He led the team on the day taking four shots, putting three on goal, as he got on the board for the first time in 2023. The other Cardinal goal can courtesy of freshman Jon-Michael Gordon, who finished with one goal and one assist while taking one shot on the day. Salem Mwelwa (2), Johannes Haugerud (1), Cole Congson (1), and Sam Clark (1) rounded out the day for the Cardinals. It was a career best effort for goalkeeper Carlos Molina who finished with 11 saves on the night while facing 14 shots.

The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team Returns to action on Wednesday, October 25th, when they hit the road to face Frostburg State with kickoff at 7:30 PM.