Wheeling, W. Va. – With so many new faces on the team for the 2024 season, the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team is looking to begin a new era. They kick-off their 2024 campaign on Thursday, when they travel to nearby CAL-U for a non-conference match with kick-off at 6 PM. The Cardinals look to start the season strong as they prepare for the Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule this weekend.
In 2023, the young Cardinal team faced it's share of growing pains with a young roster. They came out the gate with back-to-back conference playoff rematches with Charleston and West Virginia Wesleyan and competed but couldn't get over the hump. They would end up getting their first tie of the season against Concord on September 17th, and got their first win on October 15th against Salem. Despite a slow start, things started to turn around for the team at the end of October, as they pulled off a 3-3 tie against Nationally ranked Notre Dame College on October 18th. The Cardinals began to find their offensive groove, averaging nearly two goals per game over their final five games, ending the season with a 1-1 tie against West Liberty. They look to carry that offensive momentum with them into Thursday's season opener.
While the Cardinals have a younger team on the offensive side of the ball, the defense has several veteran players, beginning with the two goalkeepers. Carlos Molina and Austin Aaron return to lead the goalkeeping group after splitting time in net a season ago. Molina got the majority of the starts, playing 10 games in net and held the highest save percentage on the team at 60.5%. Aaron would start the other seven games in net and made 28 saves while saving 51.9% of the shots he faced. With the Cardinals featuring a younger offense in 2024, the defense will look to lead the charge, keeping the opposition off the board and giving the offense several opportunities to score.
While the team lost several of its offensive leaders from a season ago, they return senior Christian Ruud and sophomore Rocco LiTrenta from a season ago. Ruud played more of a midfield role for the team in 2023, but two years ago set a career high with five goals, three assists, and 13 points as he helped lead the Cardinals to the MEC Tournament. LiTrenta came into the fold during the 2023 season and like Ruud saw a lot of time in the midfield. He scored his first career goal in the second to last game against Frostburg State and looks to help the offense move the ball throughout the year. Also added to the mix this season is freshman Jordan Taylor, who is coming off a big senior year at Jeannette High School. He was the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League's (WPIAL) leading scorer during his senior year and looks to bring some of that goal-scoring ability to the college game.
After jumping right into the MEC schedule in 2023, Thursday's game provides a bit of a tune-up for the team before they jump into the heart of their conference schedule. Early in the season, the team will face a heavy road schedule with four of their first six games all coming on the road. However, the two home games during the stretch are both MEC contests, so the team can compete in front of their home fans to start the schedule. Wheeling looks to build off their momentum from the end of last season, and get 2024 started off strong on the field.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Vulcans will be meeting for the 16th time in program history on Thursday, with CAL-U leading the all-time series at 8-6-2. However, Thursday will be the first time the two teams have met since the 2018 season and the first time the teams have met at CAL-U since 2017. The Cardinals have averaged 1.5 goals per game in the all-time series and have picked up either a win or tie in each of the last two meetings between the two teams.
The last time these two teams met was on September 15th, 2018, when the two teams finished in a 1-1 tie. Former Cardinal Martin Minuzzi led the offensive effort on the day, scoring the lone Cardinal goal on an assist from former Cardinal Gazika Redondo. Former Cardinal Jonathan Bosmyr got the start in net and made six saves on seven shots faced on the day.
The Details
Kick-off for Thursday night's game is scheduled for 6 PM inside the Phillipsburg Soccer Facility on the campus of CAL-U. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
