Canton, OH. – The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (4-6, 2-1) began their two-game weekend with a trip to Canton, Ohio as they took on Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) opponent Malone. It was a record setting performance for junior Mike Andersson, as he accounted for more than half of his team's offense in their 17-14 win. Andersson set the new single-game goal record for the second time this season, putting 10 goals into the back of the net.

The 10 goals were a career-high for the Junior, and marked the second time this season that he has scored more than five goals in a game. Andersson is also approaching both a season milestone and a career milestone with the effort. He now has 44 goals during the 2023 season and is just two goals away from breaking the single-season goals record. That record is currently held by former Cardinals Derek Downs, who finished with 46 goals during the 2018 season, which was also the last time the Cardinals made the GMAC playoffs. To go along with that, Andersson is now on the verge of scoring his 100th career goal. He enters play on Sunday needing three goals to accomplish that feat, and has a chance to break both records in one game as they get set for a non-conference game with Lewis.

Andersson wouldn't get on the board officially until the third goal of the day as a few of his teammates got the Cardinals started. Three minutes into the game, Ty Taylor picked up a ground ball after a missed shot and found Dakota Strong in front of the net. Strong made the shot and with 12:34 left in the first the Cardinals were up 1-0. After Malone took the lead at 2-1 it was sophomore Brenner Chase's turn to get in on the action. With 6:37 left on the first quarter clock, Chase would score an unassisted goal after a missed shot and the game was tied at 2-2. Wheeling won the ensuing faceoff and Andersson got his day started with a goal from Jacob Knippel and it was 3-2 Cardinals. Malone would tie the game at 3-3 before Jacob Knippel notched his first goal of the night to give Wheeling a 4-3 lead after one.

Andersson really started to heat up in the game's second quarter as he scored three straight goals to extend the Cardinal's lead to 7-3. His first came at the 12:51 mark on a pass from Chase, his second was unassisted at the 11:22 mark, and his third came from Taylor at the 10:38 mark. The Pioneers would battle back once again and added two straight goals to cut the Wheeling lead to 7-5 with 6:47 to go before the half. Wheeling would call a timeout following the second goal and an illegal equipment call on the Pioneers gave Wheeling the ball back. Taylor would once again set up the offense and found Dylan Lavern to get Wheeling back on the board. Andersson added one more goal before the half let out, but Malone got back in the game to make it 10-8 before the half to make it 10-8 at the break.

As the teams came out from the locker room, it was Andersson once again who got the Cardinals on the board. He scored his fifth goal on the night, taking a pass from Taylor to make it an 11-8 game. Dylan Lavern added his second goal of the game at the 12:10 mark and another Andersson goal would extend the Wheeling lead to 13-8 with 12:10 to play in the third quarter. Malone would break the string of Cardinal goals at the 10:55 mark to make it a 13-9 game, but the Cardinals came back with another Mike Andersson goal, this time from Gabriel Hennin to make it 14-9. Dakota Strong added his second goal of the day to round out the quarter and the Cardinals took a 15-9 lead into the final quarter of play.

In the fourth quarter, it was Malone that was finding success, outscoring the Cardinals 5-2 over the final 15 minutes of play. The two Cardinal's goals in the quarter came from Jack Rowe, who got on the board for the first time and Andersson finished out his record setting game with his 10th goal of the game as they extended their lead to 17-10. The Pioneers tried to make it a game again, scoring four straight to end the contest and Wheeling went on to win the game 17-14. The Cardinals improved to 2-1 in GMAC play and have a winning record in conference play for the first time since the 2018 season.

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Sunday, April 2nd, when they host Lewis at 12 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.