Wheeling, W. Va. – The stretch run to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) playoffs began on Saturday as the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (4-8, 2-2) hosted #14 Seton Hill on Saturday. The Cardinals held their own early, trailing by just four heading into the second half, but in the end it wasn't enough as they fell to the Griffins 22-8. A pair of Cardinals scored three goals in the effort, including Jack Rowe who set a career-high with the effort.

Rowe subbed in during the game's second half and was efficient with his opportunities, taking three shots on the day and putting all three of those shots on goal. The three goals were a career high for the freshman and he added an assist on another goal to finish with four points on the day. The other Cardinal to score three goals was sophomore Brenner Chase, who set a new season high with the effort. Like Rowe, Chase was efficient throughout the afternoon, taking a total of four shots and putting three on net. The other two Cardinals goals came courtesy of Ty Taylor and Dylan Lavern to round out the scoring. Austin Hall had a monster day in net, making a career-high 26 saves on the day, facing 44 shots for a .590 save percentage. He set the new single-game saves record with the effort as he battled throughout the afternoon.

The Griffins won the opening faceoff and held the majority of the possessions and would take the first five shots of the game. Goalkeeper Austin Hall did his part, saving three of those first five shots and set his offense up for success. The hard work would pay off as a Seton Hill turnover gave Wheeling possession with 10:33 to play. Ty Taylor would bring the ball around the net and connected with an open Dylan Lavern for the first goal of the game to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. It didn't take long for the Griffins to respond as they were on the board two minutes later to tie things at 1-1. Hall would keep up his success in net, making seven more saves before another Griffin goal pushed their lead to 2-1. They would keep that lead through the quarter's end, but Hall's 10 first quarter saves kept the Cardinals alive against the #14 team in the country.

As play moved to the second quarter, Seton Hill would push their lead to 3-1 at the 13:35 mark of the quarter. However, Wheeling once again had an answer at the 10:33 mark after another big save from Hall. Hall moved the ball to midfielder Zach Smiley, who sprinted up the field to complete the clear attempt. Smiley continued that sprint right into the offensive zone and dished the ball to an open Ty Taylor in front of the net. Taylor dished it in for his first goal of the day to make it a 3-2 game. The Cardinals defense stepped up over the next four minutes, holding the Griffins off the board and  the Cardinals had another offensive opportunity. With 6:32 to go in the half, Jake Wodarek dumped the ball over to Brenner Chase. Chase scored his first goal of the game and it was all tied up at 3-3. Seton Hill would add four more goals before the half let out to go into the locker room with a 7-3 lead.

However, as the game moved into the third quarter, the Cardinals would be shutout and held to three goals on the scoreboard. Seton Hill would take advantage, scoring nine goals of their own in the quarter and extended their lead from 7-3 to 16-3 by quarter's end. The Griffins added the first four goals of the fourth quarter as well and put up 17 unanswered goals to make it 20-3 with 11:47 to go in the game. On the next face-off, Christian Cliff would win the face-off and Mitchell Park picked up the ground ball. Park would bring the ball into the offensive zone and found Rowe for his first of three goals in the game. It made it a 20-4 game with 11:34 to play. It would be the first of five Cardinals goals in the quarter as Wheeling produced their highest scoring total for the game.

Three minutes later, a saved shot from Jacob Knippel had Rowr diving in front of the net. He simultaneously picked up the ground ball and took a shot in mid-air to score the Cardinal's fifth goal of the day and make it a 20-5 game. Rowe would score one final goal in the quarter, taking a pass from Owen Doyle to get in the net for the final time and make it a 22-8 game. Brenner Chase added two goals of his own in the quarter, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals dropped to 2-2 in GMAC play and 4-8 overall.

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, April 15th, when they hit the road to take on Lake Erie College at 3 PM.