Wheeling, W. Va. – The Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) opener came to Bishop Schmitt Field on Saturday as the Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (2-1, 1-0) played their home opener. It came down to the final second of the game, but the birds came out on top as Wheeling defeated Davenport 7-6. With just four seconds to go, the Cardinals went coast-to-coast, scoring the game-winning goal as time expired.
With 16 seconds to play, the Cardinals were a man down as Davenport was in the offensive zone. Gabriel Hennin would create an opening for the Cardinals with a caused turnover and picked up the ground ball. As he was thinking weather to hold the ball and force overtime or chuck it down field, he saw Rowe open in the offensive end. He would launch the ball over 80 yards down field, and made it to Rowe's stick in one bounce. Rowe would scoop the ball and quickly fired a slapshot passed the Panther Goalie and into the back of the net. As the buzzer rang, the referee raised his hands in the air, signaling a good goal and a Cardinal win. Rowe sprinted behind the net, where he was greeted by a board of his teammates celebrating their conference opening win.
It was the culmination of a big day for the Cardinal senior, who finished with two goals and two points in the winning effort. After scoring a goal early, Rowe was able to get the game winner to send everyone home happy. Teammates Dylan Lavern and Brenner Chase tied for the team lead with three points each as they finished with two goals a piece and one assist a piece. Dakota Strong would add the final Cardinal goal of the day, while Gabriel Hennin picked up one assist, but a key one, to round out the day. On the defensive side, Hennin would lead the team with three caused turnovers, with the Cardinal defense as a whole finishing with 12 caused turnovers. Austin Hall got the start in net, and made 17 saves on 23 shots faced, continuing his strong work to start the season.
It was a low-scoring defensive game throughout, but Davenport would be the one to get on the board early. They would score their first goal just two minutes into the game and added a second goal at the 7:12 mark to make it a two score advantage. The Cardinals offense was unable to break through in the quarter, but Hall did his part to keep things close. He finished with seven saves in the quarter and the Cardinals would trail 2-0 after one quarter of play. Davenport went on the attack again to start the second quarter, with Hall making his eighth save of the day before the offense rewarded him. Following a successful Cardinal clear, Brenner Chase brought the ball into the offensive zone. He would connect with Jack Rowe, who scored the first of his two goals on the day to make it 2-1.
It would start a string of offensive success that saw the Cardinals score four straight goals to take the lead. At the 11:22 mark, the Cardinals would make their way up the field after a Davenport turnover. Dylan Lavern would move into the offensive end and found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2. It was a big quarter for Chase, who picked up all three of his points in the quarter and would give the Cardinals the lead over the next eight minutes. With 6:12 to go, Chase would bring the ball up the field and made his move around the defense to score gus first unassisted goal of the day. Three minutes later, the senior was back at it again at the 3:49 mark, adding his second unassisted goal of the quarter and the Cardinals went ahead 4-2. The Panthers added one more goal before the halftime clock expired, making it a 4-3 game.
Defense would continue to excel coming out of the halftime break, with neither team getting on the board for the first four minutes of the half. The Panthers would be the first in on the board, tying the game at 4-4 with 11 minutes to go in the quarter. Dakota Strong would find the net for the Cardinals at the 8:50 mark, taking a pass from Dylan Lavern and giving Wheeling a 5-4 lead. That lead was quickly erased in the next face-off as Davenport's Luke Fritz won the face-off and took it all the way to the net. Davenport would take the lead at the 3:49 mark, but the Cardinals would answer before the quarter ended. After a successful clear attempt, Ryder McCall would pick up a ground ball and feed it to Lavern. He took it to the net and tied the game at 6-6. That would remain the score until the final seconds of the game when they walked it off with seconds to go.
The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, March 8th, when they take on Frostburg State at 3 PM.
