Wheeling, W. Va. - The final home stretch continues for the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (2-6, 0-3) as they close out the month of March on Saturday. They play host to first-year program Thomas More University as the Cardinals look for their first Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) win with opening face-off at 3 PM. Wheeling is coming off a couple of hard fought games against the top teams in the conference and look to put it all together as they try to even their record at Bishop Schmitt Field.
Last time out, the Cardinals took on the defending GMAC runners-up when they hosted Seton Hill University. Early on, the Cardinals hung right around with the Griffins, scoring first for the sixth time in eight games. After the first quarter, the Cardinals were staked to a 3-2 advantage as they outshot Seton Hill 9-8 and held the turnover advantage causing seven compared to six from Seton Hill. However, the Griffins found their groove in the middle portion of the game, outscoring Wheeling 14-1 over the second and third quarters. The Cardinals would try to fight back in the final quarter, but it wasn't enough as they fell to 0-3 in GMAC play with a 20-6 loss.
The Cardinals got out to their hot start thanks to the work of junior Ty Taylor, who finished the game with one goal and two assists to total three points. All three of those points came in that first quarter as he was part of all three of the team's goals in the quarter. He connected with both Brenner Chase and Mike Andersson on the first and third goals of the night and made it happen himself with a caused turnover, ground ball, and goal on the Cardinal's second goal of the day. Taylor has been the conference leader in assists this season, entering play on Saturday with 18, while also leading the conference with an average of 2.24 assists per game. Taylor burst onto the scene last season to help the Cardinal offense and looks to continue to be both a scoring and passing threat on offense.
Senior Mike Andersson kept his multi-goal streak alive in the effort, scoring two goals on five shots on the day. It is the 10th consecutive game that Andersson has put up a multi-goal effort, and he enters Saturday's game as the second leading scorer in the conference with 22 goals. Andersson is approaching another career milestone, after breaking the program's single-season scoring record a season ago. He needs just 20 more goals to break the 150-goal mark for his career, which would make him the first Cardinal to accomplish the feat since the 2017 season. Wheeling also got a big goal from their defense as Wilson Perez-Vasquez scored his second goal of the season. Fellow defenseman Owen Worley brought the ball into the offensive zone and connected with Perez-Vasquez for the final score of the night.
With six more games left on the regular season schedule, the Cardinals are looking to get in the GMAC win column to close out March. Of their six remaining contests, five of those will come in GMAC play, with the exception being the team's senior night game against Virginia State on April 20th. With the top six teams in the conference making the GMAC tournament this season, a win on Saturday would put the Cardinal's one step closer to gaining their spot. They still have four of the seven teams ahead of them in the standings on the list as they look to make a move to get into the tournament over the final five weeks of the regular season.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Saints will be meeting for the first time in program history, with the Saints playing in just their second season as a program. So far in 2024, Thomas More sits at 0-5 overall and 0-2 in their first season of GMAC play, after going 1-12 as a program in their inaugural season. The Saints are led by the duo of Spencer Lethbridge and Graham Houser, with Lethbridge leading the team with 32 points while Houser has produced 25 goals and 27 points this season.
The Details
The opening faceoff for Saturday's game is scheduled for 3 PM inside Bishop Schmitt Field. You can watch the action live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
