Wheeling, W. Va. - With the regular season coming down to its final two weeks, the push is on for the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament. The Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team (5-5, 3-2) looks to take one step closer to the tournament on Saturday when they honor their seniors in a special senior day matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan with opening draw at 5:30 PM. With a win, the Cardinals would lower their magic number to clinch a tournament spot to one, setting them up to clinch a playoff spot in their Wednesday matchup with Charleston.
The Cardinals are coming off of a big road win over Davis & Elkins, where the offense put up 19 goal in what would be a 19-7 win. The offensive attack came early and often, with the Cardinals scoring nine goals over the first 15 minutes of play. Wheeling's defense held the Senators at bay over the first 23 minutes of play, as they built up an 11-0 lead. However, Davis & Elkins would score four straight goals to end the half and the teams went into the locker room with Wheeling leading 11-4. However, five goals in the third quarter was enough to seal the deal as the Cardinals headed into the fourth quarter with a 16-4 lead. The teams would trade the final six goals of the day, but the comeback effort was too little too late as the Cardinals would hang on for the 19-7 victory.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was redshirt senior Sophia Cirone, who finished with a season-best five goals while tying her season-high with six points. Cirone was efficient throughout the day, putting all six of her shots on net, and hit the six point mark for the first time since the team's opener against Allegheny College. Along with her offensive success Cirone was also a force on the defensive side of the ball, finishing with a team-best 12 groundballs and tied for the team lead with three caused turnovers. Cirone sits second on the team with 23 goals and 32 points, while holding the third spot on the team with nine assists. She has been the Cardinal's most efficient shooter this season, putting 53.5% of her shots on net and looks to continue leading the way for the Cardinals through the end of the season.
Equaling Cirone's three-point effort was Klara Domachowska, who finished with three goals and three assists to put up six points of her own. It was her second highest point total on the season and was the third time that she has scored three or more goals in a game this season. Rounding out the hat trick efforts was Trinity Rose, who finished with three goals and two assists to total five points. However, it was her defensive effort that put her over the top as she led the team with 12 draw controls. She would tie with Cirone for the team lead with three caused turnovers and finished second with 11 ground balls to round out the big day. Rose leads the team in both goals (31) and points (42), while sitting second with 11 assists on the season.
With three MEC games remaining on the schedule, the Cardinals are looking to grab one of the top four spots in the conference to qualify for the MEC Tournament. With Dominican University automatically getting the #3 seed, the Cardinals are battling it out for the #4 seed in the field and their magic number currently sits at two. Any combination of two Cardinal MEC wins or two Davis & Elkins MEC losses would clinch the Cardinals their first tournament berth since 2019. With Davis & Elkins being off on Saturday, a Cardinal's win would lower that magic number to one, meaning that a Davis & Elkins loss to West Virginia Wesleyan or a Wheeling win against Charleston on Wednesday would clinch them their tournament spot.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Bobcats are meeting for the 14th time in program history on Saturday, with Wheeling leading the all-time series with a record of 11-2. The Cardinals hold a strong 6-1 record against the Bobcats at home, compared to a 4-0 record when they travel to Buckhannon, West Virginia. Wheeling is riding an eight-game winning streak heading into Saturday's matchup, and has averaged 14.46 goals per game in the all-time series.
It will be the second time the two teams have met this season, with Wheeling winning the first matchup 26-4 back on March 23rd. The Cardinals were led by Trinity Rose, who finished with eight goals and one assist to finish with nine points. She was one of four Cardinals to finish with a hat trick with Klara Domachowska (6), Paige Jankowski (4), and Sophia Cirone (3) all hitting the mark.
The Details
Opening face-off for Saturday's game is scheduled for 5:30 PM with the senior day ceremony taking place at halftime. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
