Box Score Lincoln University, PA. – The Wheeling University Women's Soccer team (0-1, 0-0) hit the road for their 2024 season opener on Friday afternoon against Lincoln. The Cardinals got the lead with a late goal in the 62nd minute, but it wasn't enough as they dropped their opener to the Lions 3-2. Wheeling's offense made a valiant effort late, taking two shots inside four minutes to play, but a pair of saves would end the comeback effort for the Cardinals.

With the game sitting tied at 1-1 coming out of halftime, both teams were looking to make a push for the lead. Lincoln would get the first shot off just 56 seconds into the new half and would end up holding possession for the first 10 minutes. After a corner kick in the 49th minute, goalkeeper Olivia Kqira was put to work as she made a diving save on a ball ticketed for the bottom left corner of the net. Wheeling's defense had some work to do and forced two off target shots for the lions before a foul got the ball back in Wheeling's possession. In the 61st minute, the Cardinals made their first push into the offensive zone as Krystal Elie sent a shot on net that was saved. The Cardinals would reset the offense and Lily Hanna would get the ball and drive up the field. She fired a shot that found the back of the net for her first collegiate goal as Wheeling took a 2-1 lead.

However, Lincoln was not done yet and created another corner kick opportunity in the 75th minute. The Lions' Keilani Broadnax sent the ball in front of the net and Allison Jordan would get it past the Cardinal defense to tie the game at 2-2. Seven minutes later, Broadnax would take the ball to the back of the net herself and with seven minutes to play Lincoln was staked to a 3-2 lead. Wheeling would take one more offensive push on the afternoon as Kaitlyn Osorio subbed in during the 86th minute. They would fire three shots, two on net, during the final four minutes, with Mary DiFonzo sending the first one over the crossbar. The substitution of Osorio would nearly pay off as she followed with a shot on net of her own, that was saved by Lincoln's Ariel Reyes. In the 89th minute, Osorio was back for one more shot, but Reyes once again made the save and the Cardinals would end up falling by a final score of 3-2.

Leading the way for the Cardinal's offense was Mary DiFonzo, who finished with one goal on three shots, putting one of them on goal. She would get the scoring started in the 24th minute as she builds off a career year a season ago. Lily Hanna would supply other goal for the Cardinals, the first of her collegiate career, on two shots while Krystal Elie had the other multi shot effort, taking two shots and putting one on net. Both offenses had their fair share of success on the night, with the shots being even at 13-13 in the game. Olivia Kqira got the start in net for the Cardinals and made four saves on the afternoon while facing seven shots on the day.

In the early going, both teams went back and forth through the games first 20 minutes of play. Lincoln would end up outshooting the Cardinals 3-2 during that stretch, with both teams getting a shot on goal. In the 21st minute, Kqira would make her first save of the day and a foul on the Lions would give Wheeling possession. The Cardinals would bring the ball up the field and found an open Mary DiFonzo. After setting a career high with 13 goals a season ago, it didn't take DiFonzo long to get on the board in 2024 as she snuck the ball pass the goalkeeper to make it a 1-0 Wheeling lead. On the ensuing Lincoln possession, Kqira would make two big saves to keep Lincoln off the board and preserve the 1-0 Wheeling advantage. However, in the 40th minute Lincoln would tie the game at 1-1 on a goal by Adiaha Witherspoon and that would be the sitting score heading into halftime before the second half comeback.

The Wheeling University Women's Soccer team returns to action on Wednesday, September 11th, when they hit the road to face Malone with kick-off at 6 PM.