Wheeling, W. Va. - Heading into the 2025 season, the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (0-0, 0-0) features a nice mix of veteran talent and newcomers looking to make an impact. On Saturday, they get the first chance to put their product on the field as they head to the USA Lacrosse facility for a neutral site contest against Chestnut Hill at 5:30 PM. It is the first game of a four-game non-conference schedule to start the season as the team looks to set them up for a strong run to conference play.
The 2024 season was the culmination of a team that has been building over the past four seasons. They started the year strong with back-to-back wins over Post University and Holy Family. They rounded out the run with three non-conference losses, and dropped their first three GMAC games to sit at 2-6 entering the final four week stretch. With their backs against the wall, The Cardinals would earn a 20-3 win against Thomas More that started a strong end of the season for the Cardinals. They would win four of their final five regular season games and clinched the #5 seed in the GMAC Tournament on the final day of the regular season. They would hit the road to face Walsh in their first GMAC Tournament game and battled to overtime. However, they would fall to the Cavaliers 11-10 to wrap up their season.
With the graduation of Mike Andersson, the Cardinals now turn the reigns over to senior Ty Taylor in 2025. Taylor would finish second on the team with 55 points during the 2024 season, while leading the team with 30 assists on the season. He finished third in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) with his 30 assists last season and 10th in the conference with 55 points. Early in the season, Taylor was one of two Cardinal players to tie the single-game goal record with nine and added several multi-goal games throughout the season. Taylor will now be looked at as the primary leader for the Cardinal's offense as they go through the 2025 season.
On the defensive end, there are a pair of leaders that the Cardinals will look to in Austin Hall and Adam Zadonawicz. Hall is in his third season as the team's starting goalkeeper, and is coming off an All-GMAC season a year ago, when he finished with 213 saves while putting together a .546 save percentage. His play was a key part of the team's success a season ago, and he looks to keep it going in 2025. Adam Zadonawicz is also coming off a career season as he helped lead the Cardinal's front line defense. He finished with a team-high 32 caused turnovers and added 54 ground balls. He finished the year fifth in the conference in caused turnovers and 10th in the conference with 54 groundballs on the season.
As they kick-off the 2025 season, the Cardinals entered the year picked #5 in the annual GMAC Preseason Poll. They will once again begin the year with a strong non-conference schedule that sees them face Chestnut Hill, Holy Family, Davenport, and Frostburg State. The Cardinals will play two of those three games at home as they prepare for the 2025 GMAC schedule. With new conference additions in Northwood and Tiffin, the Cardinals will look to continue climbing the conference ladder. The conference lost its defending champion Mercyhurst to NCAA Division I, and all eight teams are vying to take that top spot. The Cardinals have a mix of veterans and newcomers and are looking to takeover that role.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Griffins are meeting for the sixth time in program history, with the all-time series sitting tied at 3-3. It is the first neutral site game between the two teams, with Wheeling going 2-2 on the road and 1-1 at home against Chestnut College in the all-time series. It will be the first time the two teams have met since the 2019 season, and the Cardinals are looking to reignite the series with a win.
Their last meeting came on February 23rd, 2019, with Wheeling falling in a 17-9 matchup. The Cardinals were led by former Cardinal Phillip Burns, who finished with three goals on the day. Former Cardinal Connor O'Brien added two goals on the day while former Cardinal PJ Champion made 17 saves on 34 shots faced in net.
The Details
Opening face-off for Saturday's game is scheduled for 5:30 PM inside the USA Lacrosse facility in Sparks, Maryland. Stay tuned to wucardinals.com for live coverage information for Saturday's event.
