Painesville, OH. – After playing through a challenging Non-Conference schedule, the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (2-4, 0-1) jumped into Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) play. They hit the road for a tightly contested matchup with Lake Erie College, but in the end the Cardinals would drop the opener 13-11. Wheeling had two different players finish with hat tricks on the day, being led by a career-high effort from attack men Jack Rowe.

Rowe led the Cardinal effort with a career-best five goals on the day, while also being the team's most efficient shooter. He put six of his eight shots in goal and found the net on five of his six shots on goal throughout the day. The other Cardinal to pick up a hat trick was senior Mike Andersson, who finished with three goals and two assists to lead the way with five points on the night. With the hat trick, Andersson now has a hat trick in five of his six games played as he put four of his five shots on net throughout the night. Three other Cardinals would get on the board on the day as Brody Fawver, Jacob Knippel, and Dylan Lavern each got on the scoresheet. Rowe continued his success on to the defensive side of the ball, where he led the way with three caused turnovers. Goalkeeper Austin Hall would round out the day, making 16 saves on 29 shots faced.

Early on, the game was as tightly contested as advertised with the Cardinals holding the early advantage, outshooting the Storm 3-2. However, it was Lake Erie who would get on the board first as they put their first goal of the day in the net at the 10:21 mark and their second at the 10:02 mark.with the Cardinals trailing 2-0, they needed a big shot to break through. After putting four shots on net in the first quarter, it was finally at the 4:12 mark that the  Cardinals broke through. After a shot by Rowe soared over the Storm net, Andersson would get the ball and come around the back side. He found the back of the net and got the Cardinals on the board to make it a 2-1 affair. Before the quarter was out, the Cardinals would get the shot that tied the game as Brody Fawver got to the net after a successful clear as the Cardinals tied the game at 2-2.

However, just as quickly as it was tied, Lake Erie would claim the lead back in the first two and a half minutes of the new quarter. They got on the board 58 seconds into the new quarter to make it 3-2 and a minute and a half later things sat at 4-2 in favor of Lake Erie. At the nine minute mark, Lake Erie took their biggest lead of the day as they made it a 5-2 game at the 9:19 mark of the quarter. The Cardinals needed a quick response and they got one as Rowe started his day. At the 8:51 mark, Ty Taylor brought the ball up the field and connected with Rowe for his first goal of the day to make it a 5-3 game. Rowe would be back on the board for the Cardinal's final goal of the half as this time he took a pass from Adam Smellie to make it 5-4 with 5:03 to go in the half.

The Cardinals would get the equalizer two minutes later as Andersson found Rowe and the Cardinals tied things at 5-5. Lake Erie would get one more goal before the half and headed into the locker room with a 6-5 lead. They would get the first shot of the new half as well to take a 7-5 lead before Rowe was back on the board to start the Cardinal scoring. For the second time today, the connection of Andersson and Rowe resulted in a Cardinal goal as they cut the Lake Erie lead to 7-6. However, as the quarter went on, the Storm defense tightened and the Rowe goal was the only one of the quarter. Lake Erie would add three more goals over the final 13:52 of the quarter and Wheeling was trailing 10-6 and would put together their best offensive showing of the night in the final ten minutes.

Lake Erie pushed their advantage to 11-6 with a goal at the 13:34 mark of the fourth quarter, and the Cardinals would begin their comeback push. It began with Rowe's fourth goal of the day as he went solo and made it an 11-7 affair. After two more goals from Lake Erie, Rowe would complete his career-best day with his fifth goal of the night as he made it a 13-8 game with another solo goal. Andersson would complete his hat trick at the 6:06 mark off a pass from Taylor, giving him his fifth hat trick in five games this season. The final two Cardinal goals would come courtesy of Knippel and Lavern as the Cardinals cut the Lake Erie lead to 13-10. However, that is as close as Wheeling would get as they fell 13-10 in their conference opener.

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team has a quick turnaround as they head to Walsh with opening face-off at 1 PM.