Murfreesboro, NC. - After playing their first four games of the regular season at home, the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (2-3, 0-0) got their first taste of road action on Sunday. Their offense carried its momentum over from a historic win, as they defeated Chowan 16-15 as they won back-to-back games for the first time since they defeated Felician and St. Thomas Aquinas in back-to-back games last season. 

It wouldn't be easy for the Cardinals early on, as they got just one shot off courtesy of junior Mike Andersson over the game's first five minutes of play. Chowan took advantage, netting two goals during that time, and the Cardinals found themselves down 2-0 with 7:23 showing on the first half clock. The Hawks would tack on another goal at the 7:31 mark and Wheeling would have to work their way back into the game. It would be Andersson who got them started, taking a pass from Ty Taylor to cut the Chowan lead to 3-1. Once they got going, it was hard to stop the Cardinals as less than a minute later, Andersson scored his second goal of the day, taking a pass from Dakota Strong to make it 3-2. Andersson would once again find the ball in his stick with 6:05 to go, but this time he dished it off to Taylor for his first goal of the day and the game was all tied up at 3-3. 

Afte allowing three goals early, the Cardinals defense was stingy the rest of the quarter, forcing three caused turnovers over the next six minutes. Wheeling would take their first lead of the day at the 2:06 mark of the quarter when Ty Taylor dished the ball off to Dakota Strong following a Chowan turnover and the Cardinals were ahead 4-3. In the waning minutes of the quarter, It would be the Cardinals getting on the board one more time as Jacob Knippel scored off a pass from Brody Fawver, and the Cardinals found themselves ahead 5-3 after one quarter of play. 

The teams would go back and forth to start the second quarter, trading the first three goals to make it a 6-5 Wheeling lead. The lone Cardinal goal came from Mike Andersson, his third of the day, as he took a groundball off the face-off and found the net to score the sixth Cardinals goal of the day. Wheeling would rattle off two goals in a row three minutes later, as Aidan Grubler and Brody Fawver each found the net to give Wheeling their biggest lead of the day at 8-5. However, Chowan came back and cut the Wheeling led to one again with back-to-back goals before Ty Taylor scored his second of the day off a pass from Knippel to make it a 9-7 game with 6:12 to go before the half. 

Chowan was once again right on the Cardinal's heels, scoring another goal less than a minute late to make it 9-8 as the Cardinals looked to pull away. They would do just that courtesy of Ty Taylor, as he added two more goals to his day. The first came at the 3:46 mark of the second quarter, when he took a pass from Knippel and put it in net. Then, with 2:05 to go before the break, Fawver brought the ball up the field and found Taylor for his fourth goal of the day. The Cardinals would head into halftime with that same 11-8 lead and were looking to come out hot again in the second half. 

They would do just that, firing off the first two shots of the new half and getting back on the board at the 11:28 mark. Taylor finished his strong day with his fifth goal of the night, taking another pass from Knippel to make it 12-8. The Cardinals would also score the next two goals as Brenner Chase and Brody Fawver each got on the board for the first time to make it a 14-8 Wheeling advantage. After another Chowan goal, Wheeling as once again on the board as Justin St. Germain scored his first career goal and Jacob Knippel scored the final goal to make it 16-9. The Cardinals would lead 16-11 after the third quarter but would have to hold on as Chowan scored four fourth quarter goals and was able to hold on for the 16-15 win. 

Ty Taylor led the way for the second game in a row, finishing with five goals on the afternoon, while taking 12 shots and putting seven of those on net. Mike Andersson was right behind him with three goals, and was the team leader with 17 shots, nine of which landed on net. The final multi-goal scorers of the day were Brody Fawver and Jacob Knippel, who each finished with two goals on the day. Austin Hall once again led the way in net, making 17 saves on 15 shots faced for a .531 save percentage.  

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team will return home on Friday, March 10th when they host Davenport at 4 PM.