Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team (6-5, 5-3) celebrated Senior Day in dominant fashion, defeating Malone University 13-6 to close out their home slate. Five seniors were honored prior to the game, and the Cardinals capped the evening with a strong all-around performance.
The game started off slow with the first quarter being completely scoreless. There were a combined 27 shots between both teams, with seven being on goal for Malone and four for Wheeling.
Malone won the first faceoff of the second quarter, to then get the first goal of the game. Hajiyianni Marin won the next faceoff for Wheeling. The ball went back and forth for the next seven minutes, until the Pioneers scored again to take a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals were able to get two goals in the remaining five minutes of the first half, both by Jake Rowe. Wheeling and Manole went into halftime tied at two.
Wheeling came out of halftime ready to work. They got two goals in the first three minutes: one from Ben Tornatore and one from Ayden Shepard. Marin won his second faceoff of the evening, for the ball split time in both attacking ends. Malone got the ball down to their end and snuck the ball in to shorten the lead to one. Wheeling got two more goals back-to-back from Josh Wesneski and Shepard to push the lead to three. It took a couple minutes, but the Pioneers once again cut the lead back to one by getting two goals of their own. The quarter ended on two more goals, both from Rowe, to go in the final quarter 8-5.
Nate Castner won his only faceoff of the day to start the fourth quarter. After a couple short possessions, Wheeling got the ball back to their end and got Zack Bridenbaker his first goal of the game. Over the next eight minutes, Wesneski and Shepard got two more goals for the Cardinals to extend the lead 11-5. Dominico Cataldo won the next faceoff, allowing Hayden Evans to get the ground ball. Evans ran the ball down to the attacking end, found a gap, and got his first collegiate goal—all within three seconds. Wheeling and Malone both scored one more goal to end the game 13-6, with the Cardinals on top.
Rowe had himself a night, netting five goals to set a new single-game high this season. He led the team in goals and points for the evening, while Zander Thomas helped his team score with four assists. Rowe also helped lead the defense by causing three turnovers and picking up four ground balls, alongside Castner and his five ground balls. Cataldo was the lead faceoff man going 3-8, while Marin and Mason Malec went 5-7. Landen Martin had a strong footing in goal to make 15 saves on 21 shots. Colton Rose made his collegiate debut in goal in the final minutes of the game.
The Cardinals will be hitting the road for one of their final conference games against Walsh University in North Canton, OH on Saturday, April 18th.
