Wheeling, W. Va. – After taking a break from Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) play on Saturday, the Cardinals were once again on the conference road Tuesday night. They welcomed in Lake Erie College in what was a defensive matchup that saw Wheeling come out on the short end of the stick of a 9-8 matchup. The shots on goal were even throughout the night, but it was one late shot on goal that would make the difference.
Early on, it was the Wheeling offense that controlled the time of possession early on, taking the first three shots of the game. It was the third of those shots that would find the back of the net as Dakota Strong picking up his own shot rebound and putting it in the back of the net to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. The Cardinal defense would do it's job, led by four saves from Austin Hall. With 5:26 to go in the quarter, Dakota Strong one again setting up the offense. He was behind the net and dished the ball to Brenner Chase, who completed the play with his first goal of the day. He would give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead and the offense continued to take her shots, with three more in the quarter. However, only one those would end up on net and the Cardinals led 2-0 after a quarter of play.
After holding the Storm at bay through the first 15 minutes, the scoreless streak continued for the next seven minutes. Austin Hall would save the first two shots of the quarter but as the eight minute mark ticked by, Lake Erie got on the board as Lake Erie's Joey Ellison connected with John Collins for the first goal of the game. It would be an offensive push over the final eight minutes of the half, with the teams combining for five goals. Lake Erie would tie the score twice in the quarter, but each time the Cardinals got back in front. With the score sitting at 2-2, Mason Malex would win the face-off and Mitchell Park would run into the offensive zone. Dylan Lavern would score the goal for the Cardinals and gave them a 3-2 lead. Lake Erie would answer with 1:12 to go and the Cardinals would get the last shot of the half.
After Wheeling called a timeout, Brenner Chase would set up the Cardinal's offense. Chase would connect with Lavern, who scored his second goal of the day to give Wheeling a 4-3 lead heading into the break. Lake Erie would get the first three shots on goal of the half, and the third would end up tying the game at 4-4. On the ensuing face off, Malec would get another Face-Off win and Adam Zdanowicz would bring the ball across midfield. He dished off to Dakota Strong, who once again set the Cardinal offense before making a move. Strong would pick up his second assist of the day, passing to Chase for the pair's second connection of the game. However, Lake Erie would get on the board one more time before the quarter ended and, as they did Saturday, the Cardinals entered the final quarter tied at 5-5.
That tie would quickly flip to Lake Erie, as a minute and a half into the final quarter, the Storm were on the board to take a 6-5 lead. After a Zdanowicz caused turnover with 11 minutes to play, the Cardinals were once again in business. This time, it was Dylan Lavern setting up the offense and he would connect with Ty Taylor. Taylor, who was held off the board until that point, found the back of the net for his first goal of the day to tie the game at 6-6. 3 minutes later, the Cardinals were back in front taking advantage of a Lake Erie turn over. With 8:16 showing on the game clock, Brenner Chase would set the offense and take the ball himself all the way to go to give Wheeling a 7-6 lead.
Despite the strong defensive effort throughout the day, Lake Erie will tack on two goals over the final 7 minutes take a 9-6 lead. Despite being down, the Cardinals would still have some fight in them taking four shots over the final two and a half minutes of play. Both of those would result in a goal as with 1:25 to play, Lavern would find the back of the net for his third goal of the night to make it a 9-8 game. The Cardinals would have the ball with less than 30 seconds to play but they couldn't get a shot off as they dropped their first GMAC game of the season and evened their conference record at 1-1. It moved their record to 1-2 on their home turf as they continue through their conference schedule.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Dylan Lavern and Brenner Chase, who each finished with three goals, one assist, and four points on the day. Chase would continue his success, finishing with multiple goals and one assist for the third game in a row, dating back to Davenport. For Lavern, it was his first multi goal game since he scored three goals against Holy Family, and was one point shy of his season high effort. Dakota Strong and Ty Taylor would account for the other two Cardinal goals on the day, while Strong led the passing game with two assists. On the defensive side, it was Jack Rowe and Adam Zdanowicz leading the way with three caused turnovers each, while Austin Hall would make nine saves on 18 shots faced in net.
The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, March 15th, when they host Walsh with opening face-off at 1 PM.
