Wheeling, W. Va. – With walls of snow surrounding the sidelines of Bishop Schmitt Field, the Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team (0-1, 0-0) opened the 2026 season on Saturday. They welcomed in Gannon University in non-conference action and, after trailing by as much as 12-4 early in the third quarter, the Cardinals would mount a comeback effort, outscoring the Golden Knights 8-6 over the final 28 minutes of play. However, the damage had already been done as the comeback fell just short as the Cardinals dropped the opener 15-11.
Leading the late-game charge was senior Sophia Cirone, who accounted for five of the final eight goals for the Cardinals. It was a capper on what was a big day for the senior, who scored five goals and added an assist to total six points in the effort. She finished as Wheeling's most efficient shooter in the effort, going 7-7 while picking up two ground balls and finishing with two caused turnovers in the effort. She was one of three Cardinals to finish with a multi-goal effort on the day, being joined by Klara Domachowska (3) and Trinity Rose (2) In the effort. Domachowska would tie Cirone For the team lead in points adding team best three assists to bring her point total to six. It was an all-around defensive effort on the front line, with five different Cardinals finishing with two caused turnovers in the game. The Cardinal also shared the love in net with three different players suiting up. Keira Desmond got the start making two saves on five shots faced. Meckenzie Caldwell added four saves on 12 shots faced, while Giovanna Perkins closed things out by making Two saves on six shots faced.
With 5:55 to go in the third quarter, things weren't looking good for the Cardinals as they trailed 12-4. The Golden Knights hats scored three unanswered goals, and six total in the quarter, and Wheeling was looking for a spark. It would come from Cirone, who after a Gannon turnover got the ball in her stick with 2:02 to go and rifled it into the back of the net. Despite Gannon scoring The final two goals of the quarter, the Cardinals had some life and carried that momentum into the final 15 minutes. They would end up going off at the start of the fourth quarter scoring three goals in the span of two minutes to get back into the game. It started with a strong defensive play by Lela Plouse, who caused the turnover to get Wheeling the ball back with 12:45 to play. The Cardinals would work the ball to Cirone, who made her move around the defense and scored her third goal of the day. On the ensuing draw control, Brooke Jeffery would get the ball Aand the Cardinals were right back on the attack.
Jeffery would find Domachowska to set up the play and the sophomore battled through the Golden Knights defense. She would put the ball in the net for her second goal of the day and in the span of 10 seconds the Cardinals had nearly matched their scoring total for the entire third quarter. They would equal that mark just two minutes later as another draw control win, this time by Ava Annuziata we'll keep the Cardinal streak going. With 10:52 to go, it was another senior leader that got in on the action as Jovie Noack notched her first goal of the 2026 season. It would cut Gannon's lead to just six with 10:52 to go and the Cardinals weren't done yet. Three minutes later Wheeling would be the beneficiary of a Golden Knights Yellow card and Domachowska would once again set the offense up. This time she found Trinity Rose in front of the net, and she completed the play to make it a 14-9 game. Wheeling continued to show fight throughout the afternoon, and went back to Rose to make it a five goal game.
The junior took a pass from Cirone And scored her second goal of the day to make it a 15-10 game with 6:03 to play. While the offense was going, the defense went to work allowing just one goal over the final 15 minutes of play. They would keep the Cardinals in the game and after Gannon got to the 15 goal mark, Wheeling would have one more trick up their sleeve. With 1:25 to go Domachowska once again set the offense looking for one more score. She would dish a pass off to Cirone who scored her career high fifth goal to get the Cardinals back to within five goals at 15-11. However, that was as close as the Cardinals would end up getting as the strong third quarter was too much for the Cardinals to overcome. After getting on the board just three times in the first half, the offense showed what they can do in the second half putting up eight goals and they look to carry the momentum throughout the rest of their non-conference schedule.
Early on, it was a back and forth game with each team scoring three times in the first quarter. Gannon flexed their muscles early needing just a minute and a half to take a 2-0 lead over the Cardinals. It wasn't long before Wheeling followed with their first goal of the day after Domachowska picked up a draw control. She would end up slicing her way through the defense and taking the ball all the way back to the net to make it a 2-1 game. After the early flurry of offense, both teams were held off the board for the next seven minutes before Gannon's Isabella Veltre broke the scoring drought. As the quarter came to an end Wheeling would pick up a pair of quick goals, sandwiching a Golden Knights timeout. The first came at the 3:43 mark, when Domachowska connected with Cirone, and the second would come from Domachowska herself to tie things at 3-3. That would be the score at the end of the first quarter before Gannon hit the 9-1 run, that broke the game open. It was a good fight late for the Cardinals but not enough to get them their first win of 2026.
The Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team returns to action on Wednesday, February 18th, when they travel to Shippensburg.
