Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team (0-2, 0-1) will be traveling to Sparks, MD to take on Holy Family University (HFU) at the USA Lacrosse Facility. The Cardinals are looking to capture their first win of the season after losing to non-conference Lincoln Memorial University and Great-Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) competitor Davenport University. 

After traveling to Grand Rapids, MI, the Cardinals left with their second loss of the season against Davenport, after beating them twice last season. Defender Owen Worly was able to get the first goal of the game within the first two and a half minutes of play. The Cardinals were able to keep a strong attacking end for the first half of the game to go into half time only trailing by one. After the half, Davenport handled the ball most of the third quarter, resulting in eight goals, and only allowing Wheeling to get one goal. Davenport slowed the ball down in the fourth quarter, with only three goals, but Wheeling would only get one more goal to end the game 17-7.

Jack Rowe led the Cardinals offensively against Davenport with three goals and one assist, while Riley Linconle led defensively with five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Goalkeeper Chris Burlingame was able to make 18 saves on 35 shots and picked up two ground balls.

The Matchup

The Cardinals and Tigers have met twice in the last two years, and the Cardinals have come out on top both times. Last year, Wheeling got things started with two goals right out the start by former player Dakota Strong and current player Jack Rowe. HFU out scored Wheeling in both the first and second quarter by one goal, and ended the half up by two. The Cardinals took that momentum to start the second half strong with a goal from former player Mitchell Park in the first 20 seconds. Wheeling would out score HFU in both the third and fourth quarter by three goals and won the game 14-10.

Jack Rowe was the top scorer for Wheeling during last year's matchup with three goals. Six other Cardinals found the back of the net, one being Landon Gallagher, and the rest being former Cardinals. 

Junior Midfielder Xander Kelly was HFU's top scorer during the match up last year with three goals and one assist. Former Tiger goalkeeper James Demakopoulos led the Tigers in ground balls and caused turnovers during the matchup and made eight saves on 22 shots.

HFU is 1-1 after a win against Point Park University and a loss against D'Youville University. Jake Feeney and James Bienia both led the Tigers in scoring during their most recent matchup against D'youville with three goals and one assist each, while Noah Simpson led the Tigers in points with two goals and three assists. Frank Britsch led the Tigers defensively with nine ground balls, while goalkeeper Adam Wickel made 19 saves on 39 shots. 

The Details

The matchup between the Cardinals and Tigers will be on Tierney Field at the USA Lacrosse Facility in Sparks, MD on Saturday, March 7th with first faceoff at 6 PM. The game will be live streamed on GoLive Sports HERE and live stats can be accessed HERE.