Charleston, W. Va. – It was a trip down to Charleston, West Virginia for the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (0-9-3, 0-7-2) as they continued Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. The Cardinals would get on the board to start the game, but the Golden Eagle offense was too much to handle as the Cardinals fell by a 5-1 score. Wheeling has been looking to find answers on offense, and the fast start was a step in the right direction.
Charleston would be the first one to take a shot on the day, putting a shot off net in the sixth minute. However, Wheeling came back strong as
Jordan Taylor put a shot on net in the 10th minute. A save by Charleston's Nicolai Gunderson kept it scoreless but that would last just five more minutes.
Daniel Delo would make his first save in the 13th minute, and a minute later the Cardinals would be set with a pair of corner kicks. It was the second of these corner kicks that would find the net as
Joergen Bjerkreim would send the ball towards the middle of the net. Defender
Alvaro Ivanov would jump up and head the ball and it found the back of the net to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. It was the first career goal for Ivanov, who has served as the team's center back this season, and Wheeling would look to keep momentum going.
However, Charleston would respond with a goal in the 18th minute, and put up three more before the half was out to take a 4-1 lead into the break. Delo did his best to keep the game from getting out of hand, making three additional saves in the first half, and Wheeling would look to get back on the board in the second half. In the 66th minute, Charleston would get their fifth goal of the day, and the Cardinals tried to end the game strong. They would get two more shots on net, with the first coming in the 77th minute courtesy of
Christian Ruud. In the 83rd minute, the final Cardinal shot on net would come from
Kai Yoshikane but a save by new goalkeeper Parisis Konstantinos would make the save. That was his the game would eventually end with Charleston picking up a 5-1 win that moved the Cardinals to 0-7-2 in conference play.
Alvaro Ivanov would pace the Cardinal's effort, scoring his first career goal and finishing with two shots, putting the one on net. Ivanov has been a force on defense for the Cardinals this season and is now the eighth different Cardinal to score a goal this season. The other three shots on goal in the game came courtesy of
Christian Ruud,
Kai Yoshikane, and
Jordan Taylor.
Daniel Delo got the start in net for the Cardinals and made seven saves on 12 shots faced during the day. It was the fourth time this season that the Cardinals have scored first in a game this season and the second time in the past three games. They look to continue to get out to fast starts as they head down the stretch run.
The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team returns to action on Wednesday, October 16th, when they hit the road to face West Virginia Wesleyan with kick-off at 4:30 PM.
