Wheeling, W. Va. - Atlantic Rugby Conference (ARC) action came to Bishop Schmitt Field for the first time on Saturday as the Wheeling University Men's Rugby team (3-1, 1-1) welcomed in Walsh. After falling behind early, the Cardinals made a late-game comeback effort, but it fell just short as the Cardinals fell 26-24. The Cardinals had the ball within the 20-meter mark, but they couldn't come up with the game-winning score as they dropped their first ARC contest of the season.
Coming out of the halftime break, the Cardinals were trailing 13-12, and the Walsh offense extended ther advantage. A Wheeling Penalty brought up Walsh's Elliott McKinney to attempt the penalty kick, and she sailed it through to push the Cavalier lead to 16-5. Walsh would add a try in the 49th minute, courtesy of Garrett O'Connell, and a Penalty Kick in the 52nd minute, courtesy of McKinney, and the Cardinals were down 26-12 with 28 minutes to play. The Cardinals would stop the run coming off a scrum in the 55th minute as Chris Mathebula took the ball. Mathebula would weave his way to the corner of the try zone and touched the ball down. Taku Musingwini would kick through the conversion, and the Cardinals had some life as they cut Walsh's lead to 26-19.
The 26-19 score would remain until the 74th minute, when a Walsh penalty would set up a scrum for the Cardinals. Wheeling would get the ball to their leading try scorer in 2025, Alex Nyamunda, and he would do the rest. Nyamunda pounded the ball across the try line and cut into the Walsh lead at 26-24, but the missed conversion kick from Ayoub Jalli would prove costly. The Cardinals would get one more possession with under two minutes to play and a chance to win the game. The Cardinal offense got down inside the 20-meter mark, but a turnover on a dropped pass would bring the game to its conclusion. Walsh would kick the ball out of bounds and the ref blew his whistle as Wheeling moved to 1-1 in ARC play.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was a trio of Cardinals who each finished with five points on the day. Alex Nyamunda, Chris Mathebula, Panashe Mugorogodi, and Mychal Andrews each scored tries on the night, with Nyamunda pushing his team lead to seven tries on the season and 35 points. Taku Musingwini handled the kicking duties, going 2-3 on conversion kicks on the day, while Ayoub Jalli took the other kick for the Cardinals, going 0-1. Through the first half, the two ARC rivals were going back and forth jockeying for position. Defense played a big role in the first half and the two teams were jockeying for position.
It took the Cardinals just three minutes to get their offense going, after receiving a kick from the Cavaliers. The Cardinals would get the ball into the hands of Mychal Andrews, and he would battle his way across the try line. Musingwini would take the conversion, but sent it wide as Wheeling had a 5-0 advantage early on. It would be a Cardinal penalty that opened the door for Walsh as they set up for a Penalty Kick in the 11th minute. McKinney would send the ball through the uprights and they cut into the Wheeling lead at 5-3. They would add another try in the 22nd minute and the successful conversion kick would give Walsh their first lead of the night at 10-5.
They extended that led in the 29th minute as another Cardinal penalty gave McKinney another chance at a Penalty Kick. He would once again sail it through the uprights and Walsh would take a 13-5 lead into the final 10 minutes of the first half. The Cardinal defense would step up over those last 10 minutes, keeping the potent Walsh offense out of the try zone. They forced two turnovers, one coming in the 39th minute, and the offense took advantage with 30 seconds to go in the half. After forcing a turnover, Wheeling got the ball to Mugorogodi. He used his speed to get up the sidelines and into the try zone. Musingwini would send through the conversion and Wheeling went into halftime with the score sitting at 13-12. Despite the comeback effort, it wouldn't be enough as the Cardinals dropped their first match of 15's season.
The Wheeling University Men's Rugby team returns to action on Friday, October 3rd, when they take on Queens University of Charlotte with kick-off at 7 PM.
