Wheeling, W. Va. – After having a brief reprieve from conference play over the weekend,  the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (0-3-1, 0-2) returns to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) stretch on Wednesday. They hit the road to face the newest MEC foe, Point Park, with kick-off at 7 PM. They look to welcome the Pioneers to the conference and pick up their first conference win of the season as they continue their three game road trip.

Last time out, the Cardinals traveled to Shepherdstown, West Virginia to take on Shepherd University. The Cardinals have been looking for more offense as of late and went on the attack right away, taking the game's first shot in the second minute of the game. However, that was their only shot in the first 24 minutes and Shepherd would capitalize, taking a 1-0 lead. It would remain that way until the final minute of play when the Cardinals got the equalizer with a goal in the 44th minute that tied things going into halftime. In the second half, it would be the Rams that controlled the pace of play, taking 10 shots over the final 45 minutes. They scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 48th minute just out of halftime and that would be enough as Wheeling fell 2-1.

After playing defense for the majority of the first three games of the season, it was Alex Yesufu who got the Cardinals on the board with his first collegiate goal. With the Cardinals down 1-0 late in the first half they put together a flurry of scoring chances. After a shot was sent off target, the Cardinals reset their offensive attack. Josh Timbrell took the ball out and sent a pass in towards net. Yesufu was waiting for it and took his opportunity, sending the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. It was the first collegiate goal for the Redshirt Freshman and helped Wheeling tie the game going into halftime. Yesufu has been a big part of the Cardinal defensive effort in the early part of the season and is looking to try to get the offense going down the stretch.

For the first time this season, the Cardinals had a new starter in net as Carlos Molina got his first start as goalkeeper this season. After conceding the goal in the 24th minute, Molina was able to keep the Rams off the board the remainder of the half. He would finish the day making four saves on six shots faced to finish with a .667 save percentage. The Cardinal goalkeepers have been solid throughout the year, putting together a .667 save percentage through the team's first four games of the season. One of the team's main focused coming into the season was their defensive effort and they have been solid in that area all season long. Center back Alvaro Ivanov has led the way for the Cardinals, forcing bad shots by the opposition. Of Shepherd's 10 second half shots on Saturday, only one landed on net as the defense put them in bad positions.

The Cardinals continue this three game road trip on Wednesday as they jump head in to their MEC schedule. After a pair of road games this week, the Cardinals end the month of September with special homecoming festivities next week against Salem and West Liberty University. The Cardinals have been trying to find their offensive identity through the first four games, but the defense has kept them in games throughout the year. They have held their opponent to two goal or fewer in three of their four games, giving their offense opportunities to make runs. Wheeling has had some of their young players take advantage of the opportunities, they have just yet to convert those into consistent offense. As they continue to grow on the field, they look to use their strong defensive effort to lead an offensive push.

The Matchup

The Cardinals and Pioneers are meeting for the fifth time in program history on Wednesday night, and the first as conference foes. Wheeling leads the all-time series with a record of 3-0-1, but Wednesday's meeting will be the first for the two programs since the 2014 season. Wheeling holds a 1-0-1 record at home all time, while going 2-0 when playing at Point Park. The Cardinals have averaged 2.75 goals per game in the first four games and will look for their first multi goal effort of the season.

Their last meeting came on September 4th, 2014, when Wheeling picked up a 1-0 win in Pittsburgh.t Wheeling was led by former Cardinal Trey Tucker, who created a turnover to score the lone Cardinal goal on the day. Former Cardinal Vincent Faraji added two shots on goal on the day while former Cardinals Luke Roan and Ainor Iniguez de Heredia each added shots. Former Cardinal Cody Thompson got the start in net and made 10 saves on 10 shots faced to preserve the shutout.

The Details