Wheeling, W. Va. – It was a historic night at Bishop Schmitt Field as the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (7-7, 4-4) hosted Davis & Elkins on Wednesday night. The Cardinals picked up a 26-4 win over the Senators and moved to 7-7, finishing with their first .500 record since the 2018 season. Along with the win, senior Mike Andersson permanently made his mark on the program, becoming the all-time leading goal scorer in program history.

Entering the night, Andersson needed seven goals to tie the record of 160, held by former Cardinal Dereck Downs, and eight to break the record. After Jack Rowe got the scoring started just 45 seconds into the game, Andersson would get his historic run started. He scored his first goal of the night just a minute later, taking a pass from Adam Zdanowicz, to make it a 2-0 Cardinal lead. It was the first of four straight goals for the senior, and by the 10-minute mark of the first quarter Andersson was already halfway to breaking the career goal scoring record. He would add one more goal before the first quarter came to a close, giving him five for the quarter as the Cardinals led 7-2 after one quarter. Brody Fawver would put in the other goal of the quarter as the Cardinals got out to a strong start.

Fawver and Rowe would get the second quarter scoring started, each adding a goal to their day before Ty Taylor put in his first goal of the day at the 6:44 mark of the quarter to make it a 10-4 Cardinal lead. Andersson was back at it at the 5:57 mark, putting the first of back-to-back goals to make it a 12-4 Cardinals lead. The second of those two goals came with 5:24 to go, tying him with Downs for the career goal scoring record. Dakota Strong would add the 13th Cardinal goal of the day, but with 40 seconds to go Andersson officially completed history. He took a pass from Taylor and found the back of the net for his 161st career goal. It sent the Cardinals into the locker room with a 14-4 advantage and allowed Head Coach Gage Bradshaw to work in his younger guys and rest up the starters for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Tournament.

In the second half, a new star emerged for the Cardinals as Dakota Strong got to work on his career day. After notching his first goal of the night just before the end of the half, Strong got the second half started just 45 seconds into the new half. It would be the first of three goals in the quarter for Stronga as he brought his total on the day to four. He would add his final goal to start the fourth quarter as he brought his total to five for the day. It was a new career-high for the junior as he took advantage of his opportunities throughout the night. The Cardinals had four multi-goal scorers on the night  as Jack Rowe, Owen Doyle, Brody Fawver, and Ty Taylor all finished with multiple goals. Taylor added three goals on the night to complete the hat trick, and finished second on the team with six points.

Over the final quarter of play, the Cardinal freshman got their opportunity and ended up adding five goals over the final 15 minutes of play. Ryder McCall would score his second career goal with 1:03 to play as he took a pass from Brody Fawver to make it a 26-4 game. Each of Doyle's two goals would come during that fourth quarter, as he finished out his second multi goal effort of the season. The five goals in the quarter were scored by four different players and the Cardinals wrapped up the win to move to 7-7 on the season. It was the team's first .500 season since 2018, which was also the last time the Cardinals made the GMAC Tournament. While the formal seeding has yet to be released, the Cardinals will most likely be the #5 seed in the tournament and head to North Canton, Ohio.

The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team now heads to the GMAC Tournament and is awaiting the official announcement of their first round opponent The GMAC Quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, April 27th.