Frostburg, MD. - After a win in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Play-in round, the Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team (10-9, 6-4) continued their MEC Tournament run in Frostburg, Maryland on Thursday night. They would face the defending 2025 MEC Women's Lacrosse champions Frostburg State, and put together a late comeback try over the final 15 minutes of play. However, the early lead by Frostburg State was too big to overcome, with the Cardinals falling 17-9 to end their run in postseason play.
Early on, the Bobcats controlled the time of possession, and sophomore Giavonna Perkins did her job to keep them off the board. Frostburg State would send three shots on goal over the first three and a half minutes of play, with Perkins making the save each time. However, with 11:04 on the clock, the Bobcats got on the board when Emily Lamoreaux scored off a pass from Neila Haney to give Frostburg State a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals would turn to their leader for a response just 30 seconds later as Trinity Rose won the ensuing draw control and brought the ball up field. She would send a pass to Sophia Cirone, who found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1. Wheeling nearly went back-to-back as Klara Domachowska won the ensuing draw control and took a shot on net, but Frostburg State's Liz Amos would make the save to keep the game tied.
Frostburg State would clear the ball down the field and at the 9:10 mark, took the lead back when Delaney Burrows found the back of the net. It was the first of four unanswered goals by Frostburg State and, with one minute left, MEC All-Freshman team member Brooke Jeffery would get the ball back to the Cardinals. She won the draw control and fed the ball to Domachowska, who took it the rest of the way to the back of the net to make it a 5-2 game after one quarter. After Frostburg State started the second quarter with their sixth goal of the night, the Cardinals would continue with their quick strike offense after another Rose draw control win. She would flip the ball to Cirone, who took it the rest of the way and cut the Frostburg State lead to 6-3 with 12:38 to go before the half. However, that would be the only Cardinal goal of the quarter and, despite three saves from Perkins, the Bobcats added three more goals before the half and the cardinals entered the break down 9-3.
After taking the time to regroup at halftime, Perkins made a save on Frostburg's opening possession and the Cardinal offense went to work. After a successful Cardinal clear, Domachowska would bring the ball up field, and fired a pass to a cutting Rose. The junior would fire the shot on goal and into the back of the net to make it a 9-4 game. However, the script was nearly the same as the second quarter, with that being the lone goal for the Cardinals over the 15 minutes. Frostburg State would score the final six goals of the quarter, starting the running clock and bringing the score to 15-4 heading into the fourth quarter. Their run would come to an end with a goal to open the fourth quarter, when Sydney Stone scored on a free position goal, before the Cardinal comeback attempt began.
Wheeling would win the ensuing draw control and Macy Davies sent a shot on net that was saved by Amos. Frostburg State would quickly turn the ball over and the Cardinals took advantage as Rose took the ball to the back of the net for her second goal of the night. It was the first of three straight goals for Rose, with her next two coming on back-to-back shots. It would start at the 7:56 mark after Cirone caused a turnover and moved the ball to the Cardinal's offensive zone. She threw a pass to Rose, who took the ball to the net herself to make it a 16-6 game. After Domachowska won the ensuing draw control, Cirone would set up the offense and found Rose for her second straight goal to stop the running clock and make it a 16-7 game. A minute and a half later, Rose would cap off the Cardinal run by passing to Jovie Noack, who scored her first goal of the night, cutting the lead to 16-8. The final Cardinal goal came with 3:14 to go when Cirone passed to Julia Daniels, to find the back of the net to bring the game to its final score of 17-9.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was junior Trinity Rose, who finished with four goals and two assists to finish with six points. She would put six of her eight shots on net, and scored three of those four goals during the five-goal outburst in the fourth quarter. The other multi-goal game came from Sophia Cirone, who finished with two goals while tying with Rose for the team lead with two assists. The other three goals were scored by three different players, with Klara Domachowska, Julia Daniels, and Jovie Noack each finding the back of the net. Domachowska would score the final point of the day, adding an assist to round out the offensive effort. Giavonna Perkins would finish the day with 11 saves on 28 shots faced, putting together a .393 save percentage. Rose would also lead the draw control game, finishing with eight, while also adding three caused turnovers and three groundballs.
The Wheeling University Women's Lacrosse team now heads into the off-season as they prepare for the 2027 schedule.
