Wheeling, W. Va. – Wednesday afternoon marked the start of a three-game non-conference Homestand for the Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team (0-3, 0-0) as they welcomed in Shepherd. Early on, the Cardinals went goal for goal with the Rams, but in the end the Shepherd offense proved too much as Wheeling fell 21-6. The Cardinals were efficient shooters throughout the day, putting 13 of their 19 shots on net, but they would muster just one goal in each of the final three quarters.
Early on, the Cardinals would set the tone, needing just four minutes to get on the board. Trinity Rose would help set the offense and she connected with Jovie Noack for the man-up goal. It gave the Cardinals their first lead of the season across the first three games, but Shepherd would quickly erase the lead on the next draw control. After a caused turnover by Shepherd, they would need just 45 seconds to get on the board when Katherine Stevenson tied things up at 1-1. The Rams would get off the next two shots, and a save by Giavonna Perkins got the offense going in the right direction. After a successful clear, Noack would make her way around the net and dished it off to Paige Jankowski. The graduate student would hit the back of the net for her first goal of the season to put the Cardinals back in front 2-1. The Rams put together their second answer of the day with 7:43 to go in the opening quarter.
Brittney Warner would put the ball in the net and the game sat tied once again at 2-2. Wheeling took the lead right back on the next draw control, with Rose picking up her second assist of the day on a pass to Klara Domachowska. The score gave Wheeling a 3-2 lead with 6:28 to go, but Shepherd would find their groove just a minute later. They brought the score even at 3-3, starting a 4-0 run to end the quarter. With the Cardinals trailing 6-3 at the end of the first, Shepherd would add four more goals over the first three and a half minutes of the second to make it 10-3. The Cardinals called a time out to regroup and it would be Rose that got them back on track. She would win the draw control coming out of the time out and took the ball to the net for her first goal of the day. It came at the 10:54 mark of the quarter, and cut the deficit to 10-4. Neither team would allow a goal down the final 10-minute stretch and the Cardinals went into the locker room trailing by that same 10-4 score.
Wheeling took efficient shots throughout the first half, putting nine of their 12 shots on net, but we're out shot 19-12 overall. As they came out of the locker room Shepherd would score the opening goal of the half at the 13:50 mark, but the Cardinals immediately got it back. After a Shepherd turnover, Domachowska picked up the ground ball and got it to Rose. The Junior would make moves around the defense and found the back of the net for the second time on the day bringing the score to 11-5. However, that would be the only shot of the quarter for the Cardinals and Shepherd would tack on seven goals of their own. In total, the Rams took 12 shots, putting nine on goal, compared to just one for Wheeling. It would start the running clock and sent the game into the fourth quarter with the Cardinals trailing 18-5.
Both teams would send in some of their depth pieces, and the shot game was more even over the final 15 minutes. The teams took six shots during that stretch, with the Rams putting four on net compared to three for the Cardinals. Of those four Shepherd shots on net, Three of them would get passed the Wheeling goalkeeper and with 4:31 to play Shepherd's lead grew to 21-5. It wasn't until the final two minutes of play when a Shepherd turnover opened the door for the Cardinals. Julia Daniels picked up the ground ball for Wheeling and gave it to Domachowska to run one last play. For the Second time in the game the Domachowska-Rose connection resulted in a goal with the two role reversing from the first score of the game. Rose completed the Domachowska pass for her third goal of the game and Wheeling went on to fall by the final score of 21-6.
It was junior Trinity Rose leading the way on both sides of the ball for the Cardinals in the effort. Offensively, the junior finished with three of the team's six goals, while adding two assists to finish with five points. On the defensive side, she would lead the team with five caused turnovers and six draw controls while tying for the team lead with four ground balls. The other three Cardinal goals came from Klara Domachowska, Jovie Noack, and Paige Jankowski, with Domachowska and Noack each adding assists. Domachowska would also add three caused turnovers on defense, while Brooke Jeffery continued her draw control success with five. Giavonna Perkins got the start in net, making six saves on 22 shots faced. Meckenzie Caldwell would also see time in net, making five saves on 10 shots faced.
The Wheeling Women's Lacrosse team returns to action on Tuesday, March 3rd, when they host Chestnut Hill at 1 PM.
