Wheeling, W. Va. – In their final non-conference tune-up before Mountain East Conference (MEC) play, the Wheeling Women's Lacrosse team (2-3, 0-0) welcomed in IUP on Wednesday. After battling with the Crimson Hawks through the first nine minutes of play, IUP's offense would go off, scoring 20 goals. The Cardinal's would fall by the final score of 20-6, dropping to 2-3 on the season.

After IUP scored the first two goals of the day, Wheeling would get there first offense just before the 10 minute mark. It would be an opportunity created by the defense as Trinity Rose caused a turnover and Klara Domachowska would set up the Cardinals offense. She would feed the ball to Rose who took her shot and made it a 2-1 game. It was the start of a big night for Domachowska, who got on the board 4 minutes later. Jovie Noack would come from behind the net and found Domachowska for her first goal of the night to tie the game at 2-2. After IUP responded, Wheeling would tie the game once again with Sophia Cirone finding the back of the net on an unassisted goal. The score sat tied at 3-3 with 5:44 to play in the first quarter, but a 7 goal run would put Wheeling in a deficit that they couldn't climb out of.

It was a big night for Domachowska, who provided the team with two goals and one assist to finish with a team High three points on the night. All three of her points would come in the game's first half, with her final goal of the night breaking the seven-goal IUP run. After a successful Wheeling clear, the Cardinals set up on their offensive end. Julia Daniels would bring the ball close to net and dumped it off to Domachowska. She made a move in front of the net to get by the Crimson Hawk goalie, making it a 10-4 game. It was Domachowska's second multi-goal game of the season, finishing two goals shy of her career high which she set in the season opener against Allegheny college picking up four goals and one assist In that effort. As the Cardinals prepare for MEC play, Domachowska will look to be a key contributor down the stretch.

The Cardinals would trail 13-4 at halftime and were in danger of starting the running clock. After Rose won the opening draw control of the second half, Wheeling's Jovie Noack would keep that from happening. She would take a pass from Sophia Cirone and put it into the back of the net for her first goal of the night. Noack and Cirone would be the other two Cardinals to finish with multiple points on the day, as each scored two. For Noack, she picked up an assist on Domachowska's first goal of the day before starting the second half with a goal of her own. For Cirone, she would be the one to tie the game at 3-3 in the first quarter, and added her assist on Noack's goal. The Duo currently sit second and third respectively on the Cardinals, with Noack having 17 points followed by 16 from Cirone.

Wheeling's defense would put together its best quarter of the game in the third, holding IUP to just one goal over the 15 minutes. Maisy Latus, who reentered the game after taking a break at the end of the first half, put together her strongest quarter making five saves on six shots faced. Entering the contest, Latus needed just 15 saves to reach the 500 career save mark. She would finish just short of her goal, totaling 13 saves on 32 shots faced to finish with a .406 save percentage. In the second quarter, Latus would help slow down the Crimson Hawk run, making seven saves in the quarter. As a whole, the Cardinal defense would force 14 total turnovers with four of those being caused turnovers. Rose would lead that defensive effort, finishing with two caused turnovers and four ground balls on the day.

As IUP got to the 19 goal mark, Wheeling would have one more push in the final 3 minutes of play. Paige Jankowski would win the draw control for the Cardinals and quickly move to the ball up field. She tried going all the way to goal, but saw an opening in freshman Macy Davies. Davies would complete the play, scoring her fifth goal of the season to bring Wheeling to the six goal mark. For both players, it was their first points of the night as Davies finished with the goal and Jankowski added the assist. The final two cardinal points tonight came from Trinity Rose, who scored the first goal of the game, and Julia Daniels, who ended with an assist. In the end, the Cardinals would fall 20-6 as they move ahead to conference play.

The Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team returns to action on Sunday, March 23rd, when they hit the road to face West Virginia Wesleyan at  5 PM.