Wheeling, W. Va. - Over the final six weeks of the regular season, the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (2-5, 0-2) will be spending a lot of time at Bishop Schmitt Field. Six of their final seven games will be played on their home field, and the run kicks off on Tuesday as the team hosts Seton Hill with opening face-off at 4 PM. The Cardinals will be tested against the 2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) runners-up as they look for their first conference win of the season.
Last time out, the Cardinals went on the road for the second straight game as they took on Walsh. For the fifth time in their first seven games, the Cardinals got on the board first, tallying the game's first goal just over three minutes into the game. The two teams would trade the first two goals of the game and continued to battle until Walsh finished the first half with three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead into halftime. Coming out in the second half, the Cardinals would start the scoring in both quarters, and got to within two goals of Walsh with 8:01 to play. However, it would be the Cavaliers who tallied the final score with five minutes to play and brought the game to its final score of 9-6.
Jack Rowe continued his offensive success for the Cardinals, scoring one of his team's six goals in the game, bringing his total to six for the week. Rowe has been on fire since the start of GMAC play, scoring six goals in his last two games, while putting nine of his 12 shots on net, and converting six of those nine shots into goals. The recent surge has Rowe at 10 goals for the season, putting him just one shy of his career-high of 11 that he set a season ago. He currently sits with the fourth highest shooting percentage on the team among eligible players (.303) while also sitting second on the team with eight caused turnovers on the defensive side of the ball.
The Cardinal's leading scorers against Walsh were a pair of multi-goal efforts from Mike Andersson and Brenner Chase, who each scored two goals on the day. For Andersson, he keeps his string of multi-goal games alive, having scored two or more goals in nine straight games, dating back to April 22nd of last year. Through seven games, Andersson has picked up five hat tricks and sits just 22 goals away from reaching the 150-goal mark for his Wheeling career. Brenner Chase had his first multi-goal gam since February 24th against Frostburg State, and was the team's point leader with two assists to total four points on the day. Chase currently sits second with 13 goals this season and is four goals away from his career-high of 17, set during his sophomore season.
The Cardinal's offense has been pacing their effort all season long, as the team sits as the fourth highest scoring offense in the GMAC. They have scored 81 goals over their first seven games, and sit just one goal behind Seton Hill from moving into a top three scoring offense in the conference. They are also sitting top five as a team in both shot percentage (.295) and save percentage (.514), while holding a –0.9 point margin. With six of their remaining seven games coming in GMAC play, and five of those six being played at home, the Cardinals are looking to continue to climb the ladder and get into the GMAC Tournament field for the first time since 2018.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Griffins will be meeting for the 15th time in program history on Tuesday, with Seton Hill leading the all-time series with a record of 9-5. At home, the Cardinals hold a 2-5 record against Seton Hill while averaging 10.2 PPG in those seven home matches. It will be the third consecutive meeting between the two teams in Wheeling, after the Cardinals hit the road to Greensburg in the three meetings prior.
In their most recent matchup, Seton Hill picked up a win over the Cardinals at Bishop Schmitt Field 22-8. The Cardinals were led in that game by a pair of hat tricks from Jack Rowe and Brenner Chase, with Rowe leading the way with four points on the day. Austin Hall would set the single-game record, making 26 saves throughout the day while former Cardinal Joshua Wolford added four saves in the effort.
The Details
The opening face-off for Tuesday's game is scheduled for 4 PM inside Bishop Schmitt Field. You can watch the action live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
