Terry Hancock

Men's Soccer 9/27/2024 4:15:00 PM Peyton Trollinger- Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Wheeling Searches for First “W” Versus West Liberty

Wheeling, W. Va- The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (0-5-1), (0-3-1) is still looking for its first win, but they will have a chance to check that box off against the West Liberty Hilltoppers. Mountain East Conference (MEC) games flood the Cardinals' schedule, and they plan to use those games to pick up more wins in the future.

The Cardinals started strong in the team's latest match against non-conference opponent Salem. Alvaro Ivanov and Andrew Gerbaldo came out firing on net, testing the Tigers' keeper early within two minutes of each other. Daniel Delo was only called upon one time in the 10th minute to stop a shot coming right at him. In the first, Wheeling controlled the flow of play, and the statistics reflected it. The Cardinals outshot Salem 10-3. They also used those chances to force their goalie to make four tough saves.

Once halftime ended, Salem did not care for those stats and chose to flip the script, playing more aggressively. The Tigers continued to press, breaking their first half shot total in the first 21 minutes. In the 66th minute, Salem's Josue Villegas took advantage of his shot and sent it behind Delo to break the scoreless game. Then, just six minutes later, the Tigers found the back of the net again, this time credited to Valentin Fritz. However, Wheeling kept fighting. The Jennette, Pennsylvania native Jordan Taylor fired a shot passed the keeper for his first collegiate goal and brought the Cardinals to within one. Unfortunately, the Cards could not find the equalizer despite a valiant effort and lost 2-1.

The View from the Hill Top

Despite their record of 2-4-1, the Hilltoppers from West Liberty are below the Cardinals in the MEC standings. They are 0-4 in conference play, and Wheeling's tie with Point Park places them above their upcoming opponent. The Hilltoppers hope that by the time they leave Wheeling, they will have picked up their first win in the conference. To do that, they will rely heavily on sophomore Zachary Forehand, who has been heating up recently. Forehand has recorded three points in his last five games and has eight on the season.

The two school's historical record between each other is 5-5-1. They met twice last season. The first time was in West Liberty when the Hilltoppers evened the all-time series record with a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals. They met again on November 1st in Wheeling and recorded the first draw in the series with a final score of 1-1.

The Cardinals and Hilltoppers will play on Saturday, September 28th, at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live from Bishop-Schmitt Field and can be accessed HERE. To track the LiveStats, click HERE.

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Players Mentioned

#77 Daniel Delo: GK; 6' 1"; Sophomore

#3 Alvaro Ivanov: D; 5' 9"; Senior

#16 Andrew Gerbaldo: MF; 6' 0"; Freshman

#11 Jordan Taylor: F; 5' 11"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#77 Daniel Delo
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: GK

#3 Alvaro Ivanov
: 5' 9"; Senior
: D

#16 Andrew Gerbaldo
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: MF

#11 Jordan Taylor
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: F