Wheeling, W. Va. - With their shot at the 2023 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament out of reach, the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (1-11-2, 0-9-2) begins their growth period for the 2024 season over their final three games. They kick-off that stretch on Wednesday night when they travel to Frostburg, Maryland to take on Frostburg State with kick-off at 7:30 PM. With the Cardinals still returning several key pieces from this year's team next season, it will serve as a growth period for these players as they take on some of the top teams in the conference over this final stretch.
Last time out, the Cardinals put together one of their best performances of the season as they took on the #12 ranked team in the country in Notre Dame College. Early on, it was the Falcons gaining all the scoring opportunities, but a big Carlos Molina save, and a missed penalty kick flipped the momentum back towards the Cardinals. After that, the offense took off as Wheeling scored three unanswered goals over the final 32 minutes of the first half and went ahead 3-0. However, in the second half, it was Notre Dame College's turn as they scored three goals over the final 45 minutes. Molina made eight saves during those final 45 minutes and the game would end in a 3-3 tie. Despite the effort, Concord picked up a win over West Liberty earlier in the afternoon that officially eliminated the Cardinals from playoff contention.
It was a breakout game for senior Richard Afolayanka who, after being held off the scoresheet in the team's first 13 games, came through in a big way with two of his team's three goals. His first came via a Penalty Kick in the 23rd minute and his second would come on a nice run as he took a pass from Jon-Michael Gordon and found the back of the net. The senior enters Wednesday's game as the Cardinal's active leading career goal scorer with 20 over his first three plus seasons and looks to finish out strong over these final three games. He will look to lead this young Cardinals team down the stretch as he helps them prepare for the future.
On the defensive side, the Cardinals are unable to pull out the tying effort if it was not for the work of goalkeeper Carlos Molina. Molina set a new career-high with 11 saves in the game on 14 shots faced, with eight of those saves coming in the final 45 minutes of play. Molina has been the go-to-guy for Head Coach Brandon Regan in net this season and he has stepped up to the challenge when called upon. He is helped by a defensive front line of TJ Cherry, Elim Babylon, and Aaron James as they take some of the pressure off their goalkeeper. With strong competition coming down the stretch, Molina and the Cardinal's defense will be tested, and they look to face that challenge head on.
Over their final three games of the 2023 season, the Cardinals will be tested on the road as two of their final three games come away from Bishop Schmitt Field. Of those three matches, two come against teams currently locked into the MEC Tournament. While Wheeling will not be able to knock anyone out of the tournament, they could jumble things up with tournament seeding. With their final two opponents in Davis & Elkins and West Liberty vying for the #6 and #5 seed, the Cardinals could determine who gets what seed if they are able to pick up wins in either game. It will be a good test for the young Cardinals as they prepare to be back in playoff position come next season.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Bobcats will be meeting for the eighth time in program history, and the second time in 2023. Frostburg State leads the all-time series with a record of 5-3 and, when the two teams meet in Frostburg, Maryland, the Bobcats have a 3-1 record against Wheeling. However, the Cardinals have won three of the last five matches between the two teams, averaging 1.2 goals per game during that stretch. They look to get back to their scoring ways this time around and split the season series.
In the first meeting between these two teams, Frostburg State would pick up a 2-0 victory at Bishop Schmitt Field back on September 27th. In that contest, the Cardinals would outshoot the Bobcats 18-9 and put six of those 18 shots on net in the game. Leading the way was Cole Congson, who took five shots and put two on goal, while Jon-Michael Gordon took four shots and put one on goal. Austin Aaron would get the start in net for Wheeling and ended up making three saves on five shots faced in the loss.
The Details
Kick-off for Wednesday night's contest is scheduled for 7:30 PM inside Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Frostburg State University. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
