Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team (3-3, 2-2) hosted #5 Seton Hill University in a Great-Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) matchup. The Cardinals fell to the Griffins 17-3, but held them to less than 20 goals for the first time since 2018. Wheeling's Defense held strong as three different Cardinals were able to get the ball to hit the back of the net.

The day started with a faceoff win for Seton Hill, but Wheeling was able to get the ball back a couple times to hold the Griffins from scoring in the first couple minutes. The Cardinals only allowed Seton Hill to score three times in the first, with almost eight minutes in between the second and third goal.  

Seton Hill picked up the speed a little in the second quarter. They won the first faceoff of the quarter, but Wheeling was able to get the ball back before another Seton Hill goal. The Griffins got another goal 30 seconds later, due to two penalties by the Cardinals. After a time out call by Wheeling, the Cardinals were able to get some looks to goal, and were able to hold the Griffins from scoring for almost five minutes. Seton Hill scored two more times in the second quarter to make the score 8-0. Mason Malec was able to win his first faceoff of the day before going into halftime, but there wasn't enough time left on the clock for the Cardinals to get any good looks to goal. 

After halftime, Seton Hill got their first goal off the faceoff, and then one more 90 seconds later. Wheeling's defense was able to hold Seton Hill from scoring for the next four minutes, and was able to get the ball down to the attacking end for a look on goal. Malec won his second faceoff of the day to give Zach Bridenbaker the first goal for Wheeling. Seton Hill won the next faceoff and kept possession until their next goal. The Cardinals and Griffins took turns with possession for the next four minutes; until Landen Martin was able to make a save, allowing Andrew Turner to find Ayden Shepard in the attacking end for another Wheeling goal to end the quarter.

The Cardinals went into the final 15 minutes down by 10, as Freshman Hajiyianni Marin stepped up for his first faceoff of the season. Marin got his first faceoff win, but Seton Hill was able to get the ball back to get their 13th goal of the day. Marin won the next faceoff, allowing the Cardinals a couple looks to goal, but the Griffins would once again get the ball back for another goal. Seton Hill won the next faceoff, but shared possession with Wheeling for the next four minutes before they got another goal. The Griffins got two goals back-to-back; but it allowed Marin to win his third faceoff of the day. The Cardinals had a look to goal before Seton Hill was able to get the ball back down to their attacking end. With a save from Christ Burlingame, Dane Golden was able to get the ball back up to Wheeling's attacking end for a goal by Jack Rowe, to make it their third goal of the day. Wheeling had a couple more looks to goal before the game ended, but were unable to sneak any of them in. The game ended 17-3 with Seton Hill on top, but the Cardinals were able to hold them to less than 20 goals for the first time since 2018. Martin was a big contributor, defensively, with making 21 saves on 38 shots and getting five ground balls.  

The Cardinals will continue their home game stretch Thursday, March 26th at 12PM.