Wheeling, W. Va—Before the match started, the Wheeling Cardinals (4-10-1), (3-8-1) honored Olivia Kqira, Morgan Montani, Mary DiFonzo, Taylor Wells, and Talon DeBartolo for their commitment to the program and for guiding Wheeling to their first-ever Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament appearance back in 2022. After the ceremony, they took on the Fairmont State Falcons, looking to clinch a berth in the tournament, but ultimately came short by a score of 2-0.
Fairmont State came out soaring, sending three of five shots toward Sam Faulkner in the opening 15 minutes of play. The Falcons continued to press the envelope and to add pressure in the offensive zone, but the Cardinal defense jumped out to block the passing lanes and limited opportunities to strike. When the Falcons had chances to test the junior goalkeeper, the defense stepped up to challenge the Fairmont shooters and successfully steered three of four FSU shots off-target. After the stops on the backend, Wheeling was looking to create some offense of their own. The Falcons attempted to reset the play by dropping it back, but a turnover caused by Mary DiFonzo allowed Lily Hanna to take an arching shot over the defensive wall. Still, the shot was caught by Fairmont's keeper, Olivia Johnston. The Cardinals recorded another shot in the first half, as they were awarded a free kick in the 39th minute. Olivia Hoban took it and placed the ball into the box, hoping for Nyah Smith, but a Fairmont defender tied her up as she could not direct the ball into the net.
The second half quickly provided results for the Falcons. They were awarded a penalty kick caused by an Anislie Ruben foul in the goal box. Ashley Rainho was selected to represent the Falcons on the PK attempt. She elected to go low right with the shot, and although Faulkner dove that way, the shot beat her to break the scoreless tie in the 53rd minute. Fairmont State kept attacking and fired two shots on the net, one of which required a save from the Cardial keeper. A third shot came in from a distance by Valentina Gianinetto that curved right at the last moment and evaded the outstretched Faulkner to make it 2-0 Falcons in the 57th minute. FSU kept the Cardinals in their end for the remainder of the contest, recording an additional four shots and one on the keeper.
Theresah Markwei, DiFonzo, Hanna, and Smith were all marked down for one shot each, and Hanna recorded the only shot on goal for the Cardinals. In her third start of the season, Sam Faulkner stopped eight of ten shots on the afternoon.
The Wheeling Women's Soccer team will play its next match on Wednesday, October 30th, at 4 p.m., when it will take on the Frostburg State Bobcats at Bishop Schmitt Field.
