Wheeling, W. Va. – After spending the first two games of their season on the road, the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (0-2, 0-2) gets to return home for the first time in 2023 on Saturday night. They kicked off the year with a pair of Mountain East Conference (MEC) contests but will jump into their non-conference schedule when they take on the University of Findlay at 6 PM. The Cardinals are looking to bounce back from a pair of tight conference losses to start the year as they look to get back on track in non-conference play. 

The Cardinals started off the season against the University of Charleston where they lost a close game 3 to 1, but they were able to do some good things and junior TJ Cherry got a goal to kick off the scoring for the season. Three days later Men's Soccer was back at it where they would be playing another in-conference game against West Virginia Wesleyan College which was another close game, but in the end they fell to them by a score of 2 to 1, but the positives were there with Jon-Michael Gordon getting his first collegiate goal and the shots were very close, as the Cardinals rebounded after the first half. They were outshot 5-0 over the first 45 minutes of the game, before coming back to take six second half shots, putting three of those six shots on goal. 

Wheeling hopes to get back on track on Saturday and they will be looking to the leadership on the team to do this especially TJ Cherry who got one goal in the team's first two games. Cherry was given the captain's armband on the defensive side of the ball this season but has stepped up to contribute on the offensive side. He leads the team with three shots, two on goal, for a .333 shooting percentage. Jon-Michael Gordon has also made his presence felt, scoring his first collegiate goal against Wesleyan and contributing to the offense. He finished with two shots, one on goal, and his first collegiate goal in the win. 

The goaltending was something that kept them in the first two games, so they will be looking to keep that up and Carlos Molina will be coming into the game with a save percentage of 0.545. Molina has gotten the start in each of the first two games in net for the Cardinals and produced six saves on 11 shots faced. All six of those saves came in the opener against Charleston, as he helped to keep the #2 team in the nation in check through the final 20 minutes of play. On the back line, the Cardinals have also been getting help from Elim Babylon, Amir Roque, and Cherry as they move the ball away from the net and set up the midfielders and strikers for scoring opportunities. Each of the first two games had a margin of two goals or less, and that is thanks in large part to the work of the defensive unit as a whole. 

As the Cardinals get set to return home for the first time this season, they look to build off some of that magic they had last season at Bishop Schmitt Field. In nine home contests a season ago, the Cardinals went 4-4-1, including a win in the MEC Quarterfinal round against West Virginia Wesleyan. Saturday begins a stretch of three straight home games for the Cardinals, with two of those coming in non-conference play. With so many chances to play in front of their home fans, the Cardinals will look to right the ship as they head into the middle of September. The Cardinals will play four of their remaining six games in September at home and hope to set themselves up in a top four spot as they prepare to make another run at the 2023 MEC Tournament. 

The Matchup 

The Cardinals and Oilers are meeting up for the third time in program history, and the first time in 20 years when they meet on Saturday. Wheeling comes into Saturday's game with the series lead at 1-0-1 with a tie in their first game and a win in the second in the short history between the two teams. This will be the second meeting between the two teams in Wheeling, and the first since the construction of Bishop Schmitt Field in 2014. The Cardinals won the only home contest in a 4-2 game. 

They first played on October 21st, 2002, where they won 4 to 2 and they would play them again the next season in Findlay, but this game would end in a tie 3 to 3. The Cardinals hope to pick up their second consecutive win at home against the Oilers as they renew this matchup in 2023. 

The Details 

You can catch Wheeling University Men's Soccer on September 9th at 6 PM at Bishop Schmitt Field. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.