Midland, MI - After gaining a win against Thomas More on Saturday, March 22, the Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team (4-5, 3-3) looked to continue the winning streak, but unfortunately fell to Northwood 14-12. The Cardinals are now 3-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) play, and tied for fifth with Northwood.
The Cardinals started off hot by scoring four goals in the first nine minutes of the first quarter. Northwood would win the first face off, but with a wide shot, Austin Hall would be able to pick it up and get the ball down to the Cardinal attacking end. Brenner Chase would then find Dylan Lavern, and Lavern would fire and hit the back of the net for the first goal at the 13:04 mark. The Cardinals would win the next face off, but it would be back and forth turnovers for the next three minutes. It wasn't until Jack Rowe got the ball back to the attacking end and fired his first shot of the game to make the score 2-0. The Cardinals would then win the next face off to allow Ryder McCall his first goal of the season making the score 3-0 at the 9:11 mark.
The remainder of the quarter would be back and forth with Northwood answering back after a Cardinal goal; ending the quarter at 5-3 infavore of the Cardinals. They would start the second quarter off hot, with winning the first face off and firing a shot right away. Northwood would be able to pick up the ball after the shot, but fail at the clear attempt and giving the ball back to the Cardinals. Chase would then find Ty Taylor, and Taylor would get the sixth ball in the back of the Northwood goal. The Cardinals would then struggle to find time with the ball with only winning 2-8 remaining face offs. Northwood would then be able to touch the back of the net seven separate times to gain the lead 10-6 to end the quarter.
Northwood would start the quarter off with the ball and a shot that was saved by Hall. The ball would get over the restraining line, into Laverns hands, and in the back of the net for the seventh Cardinal goal at the 12:40 mark. The game would be scoreless until the 9:07 mark when Rowe found Taylor in a man up opportunity to make the score 8-10. The Cardinals would only gain one more point in the third quarter, while Northwood would gain two more to make the score 9-12 at the end of the third.
The Cardinals momentum would remain up at the start of the fourth quarter with two goals in the first three minutes. Northwood would again start off with the ball and a shot, but Hall wouldn't let it by. He would pass it off to get down to the Cardinal attacking end so that Dakota Strong could gain his first goal of the game and the tenth goal for the Cardinals. It wasn't even a minute later till the Cardinals won the face off and Strong found the back of the net once again, with the help of Rowe, to make the score 11-12. Northwood would immediately answer back with a face off win and goal only 30 seconds after Strong's second goal. The Cardinals wouldn't give up momentum by winning the next face off and adding one more to the score when Rowe found Chase to make the game 12-13. The rest of the game would be scoreless for the Cardinal, and one would sneak in for Northwood to make the final score 14-12.
Brenner Chase and Dylan Lavern would lead the way on the attacking end. Chase would wrack up five points (three goals and two assists) and eight shots with six of them being on goal. Lavern would earn four points (three goals and one assist) and nine shots with five of them being on goal. Dakota Strong and Ty Taylor would both contribute two goals, while having three shots and two of them being on goal. Jack Rowe and Ryder McCall would add one goal each, and Rowe would feed the ball three times to have a total of four points for the day. 12 different Cardinals would find the ball on the ground to make a total of 30 ground balls for the game, with only two of them being caused turnovers.
The Cardinals return home Saturday, April 5 to take on Tiffin with opening face off being at 1 PM.
