Frostburg, MD. - On Saturday, the Cardinals continued their road stretch as they hit the road to face Frostburg State in non-conference action. The offense continued their hot start to the season, scoring nine goals in the game, but it wouldn't be enough as they fell to the Bobcats 29-9. Three different Cardinals finished with multi-goal efforts on the day as they fall to 2-2 on the season before returning home next week.
Three different Cardinals would lead the offensive effort as Mike Andersson, Brody Fawver, and Brenner Chase all finished with two goals on the day. For Andersson, it broke a string of three consecutive three-goal efforts as he put three of his four shots on the day on goal. Chase would be the most efficient of the trio, putting both of his shots in the back of the net while Fawver would finish 2-4 in shooting on the night. The other three Cardinal goals came courtesy of Nate Castner, who scored his first career goal, Dakota Strong, and Ty Taylor, as Taylor also led the unit with two assists. On the defensive end, Austin Hall would get the start in net and made 12 saves on 41 shots faced while Adam Zdanowicz led the way with three caused turnovers.
In the early going, the Cardinals would control the offense, taking two of the first three shots of the afternoon. Dakota Strong would have a shot saved on the team's first possession and Frostburg State would send a shot wide on the following possession. After a good clear by the Cardinals, Dylan Lavern would connect with Brenner Chase in front of the Bobcat net. Chase converted on the first of his two goals on the night and the Cardinals had a 1-0 lead at the 12:47 mark of the quarter. However, Frostburg State responded in a big way, scoring seven unanswered goals over the next seven minutes as the scoreboard flipped to a 7-1 Frostburg State lead. Frostburg would continue to send shots towards the Cardinal's net, and a big save by Austin Hall as time expired in the quarter kept it a 7-1 affair.
The Bobcats kept their success going into the second quarter, notching two more goals in the first minute and a half before Wheeling was back on the board. The Cardinals would take advantage of a man-up opportunity and Mike Andersson went into the offensive zone. He would work his way around the Frostburg State defense an scored the second goal of the day to make it 9-2 with 12:48 to go in the new half. A minute later, Zach Smiley would cause a turnover and the Cardinals got the ball on their side, as Andersson once again had the ball in his stick. He would dish it off to Nate Castner, who would convert his first collegiate goal to make it a 9-3 game. Wheeling would tack on two more goals before the end of the half as Andersson converted his second goal of the day off a pass from Taylor and Chase picked up his first goal at the 6:33 mark. As the teams broke for the locker room, Frostburg State would keep adding on and went into the locker room with a 17-5 advantage.
As the teams emerged from the locker room, Frostburg State would get on the board on their first possession and Wheeling would do the same. After winning the ensuing face-off on a violation, Ty Taylor would bring the ball into the offensive zone. He would connect with Mike Andersson for the second of his two goals as the Cardinals cut into the Frostburg State lead at 18-6. Frostburg State would add four more goals leading up to the 8:01 mark before the Cardinals got back on the board. This time, the Cardinals would get the faceoff win and Jacob Knippel connected with Brody Fawver to make it a 22-7 game.
Frostburg State continued to score and after the third quarter, the Cardinals trailed 26-7 and would ad two more goals over the final 15 minutes of play. After a pair of Frostburg State goals, the Cardinals responded when Jack Rowe got the stick in a man-up situation He would find Dakota Strong for his first goal of the night to make it a 28-8 affair. The final Cardinals goal would come after a caused turnover by Zdanowicz. Mason Fisher would pick up a ground ball and moved it into the offensive zone where he handed the ball off to Ty Taylor. Taylor would connect with Fawver for the final goal of the day as the Cardinals ended up falling 29-9 to round out the effort.
The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, March 2nd, when they host American International College with the opening face-off at noon.
