Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team continued their youth movement in 2025, with a young team continuing to grow. For the fourth year in a row, that youth was honored as the Mountain East Conference released their annual Postseason awards on Friday. Freshman Elie Simon was named to the MEC's All-Freshman team, marking the fourth straight season that a Cardinal freshman has been honored among the best in his class.
Simon was a breakout player on the offensive side of the ball for the Cardinals, finishing with one goal and two points on the season, finishing tied for third in goals and tied for sixth in points. He immediately established himself as one of the premier free kick takers for the Cardinals, and used that ability to convert his first collegiate goal. It came in his collegiate debut against Point Park on September 14th, when Simon sent a free kick into the top right corner of the net. By season's end, he would lead the Cardinals in both shots on goal (13) and shots on goal percentage (.481) while sitting second on the team with 27 shots taken. After making a bang in his collegiate debut, Simon would appear in each of the remaining 14 games, making 12 starts for the Cardinals.
Compared to his peers, Simon was the second leading shot taker among freshman, finishing behind Charleston's Martin Echarren, while also sitting second among freshmen in shots on goal. One of his top performances of the season came against Concord, where he set a career-high with four shots taken while putting two of those shots into the back of the net. It was the first of two four shot efforts for the freshman and the first of three two shot on goal games. As the season wrapped up, Simon would be on the field the entire 90 minutes in seven of his 14 games during the season as he helped lead the young Cardinal's offense.
Simon is the first Wheeling University student-athlete to take home All-Conference honors during the 2025-2026 season. It is the fourth year in a row that the Cardinal's have put a player on the MEC's All-Freshman team, with Simon joining former Cardinal Diego Buenano (2022), Jon-Michael Gordon (2023), and Jordan Taylor (2024) in winning the All-Freshman team honor. Last season, the Wheeling Men's Soccer team had two honorees, with Joergen Bjerkreim earning Honorable Mention All-MEC honors, while Jordan Taylor earned the spot on the All-Freshman team.
The Wheeling University Men's Soccer team now heads into the offseason as they prepare for the 2026 season.
