Wheeling, W. Va. – On a chilly Friday afternoon in Wheeling, West Virginia, the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (0-2, 0-0) opened the first of two weekend games. They hosted Quincy on Friday and after playing close early on, the Cardinals ended up falling to the Hawks 13-7. Wheeling's defense held strong in the first half, but just couldn't contain the Hawks offense in the second half.

Just like their first game of the season, the Cardinals were able to hold the opposition at bay in the early going. Through the first seven minutes of play, neither team got on the board as Austin Hall got his work in net. Hall made four saves over those first seven minutes of play and kept the score at 0-0. Quincy was the first to get on the board at the 8:39 mark as Donald Griffith made it a 1-0 game. Other than that one goal allowed, the Cardinals defense as stingy throughout the first half. Hall made eight saves on nine shots in the quarter, but the score were made 1-0 with under a minute to play. That's when, Adam Zdanowicz caused a turnover that would flip momentum back to Wheeling. The Cardinals brought the ball up the field and junior Mike Andersson found the net to tie the game at 1-1.

The score remained even into the second quarter, but it wasn't long until the Cardinals took their first lead of the afternoon. Wheeling would win that quarter's opening face-off after a violation and the Cardinals were set up on offense. The ball found it's way into Ty Taylor's stick and Andersson was once again sitting open in front of the net. Taylor hit Andersson with the pass And he made the most of it sneaking it past the Quincy goalkeeper and making it a 2-1 Cardinal lead. The lead wouldn't last long as Quincy got on the board less than a minute later and we were back to square one at 2-2. That would be the final goal of the first half as Hall once again held the Hawks at bay. He made three more saves, coming just two shy of his save total in game one and the teams broke for the locker room with the score tied at 2-2.

Both teams were looking to make adjustments in the second half but it was Quincy who found their offensive groove. The Hawks had two quick fire goals coming out of the half and added five goals in the next nine minutes to balloon the score to 9-2 in favor of Quincy. With under a minute to go in the third, the Cardinals were trying to get something going and eventually found their groove. After a successful clear attempt from Wheeling, Jake Wodarek brought the ball up the field. Wodarek would take it all the way home and found the net for his first goal of the year to make it 9-3. With 35 seconds left, Wheeling would get one more possession when Owen Worley caused a turnover. Worley nearly went coast to coast, but hit Ty Taylor as time was expiring and Taylor converted the goal to make it 9-4 at quarter's end.

The fourth quarter began with another Quincy goal before Taylor would get another offensive opportunity. After a wide shot from the Eagles, Wheeling was successful on another clear attempt as Wodarek once again brought the ball up the field. He found an open Taylor, who scored his second goal of the night to make it 10-5. The Hawks ended up adding three more goals by three different players down the stretch that would end up putting the game out of reach. The final two Cardinal goals of the night that would come courtesy of Mike Andersson, who scored four goals for the second game in a row. His first would come with 5:12 to play off a pass from Dylan Lavern, and his second came from Taylor in the waning sevondsOf the game. In the end, Wheeling fell 13-7, and showed improvement from their meeting last year

Leading the way once again for the Cardinals was Mike Andersson, who finished with four goals on the night. He took nine shots on the night, putting seven on net as he continued his efficiency to start the season. Ty Taylor finished behind him with a pair of goals, while adding a team-high two assists on the night. Jake Wodarek would score the other goal on the night for his first goal of the 2023 season. Austin Hall got his second start in net and made a season-high 18 saves on 31 shots faced while picking up the loss. The Cardinals are now 0-2 to start the season, but continue through their challenging non-conference stretch before getting into Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) play.

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team completes their weekend set on Sunday, February 19th when they host Rockhurst with the opening faceoff scheduled for 12 PM.