Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team (5-4, 4-3) heads to Frostburg State University on Wednesday to take on the Bobcats in a non-conference matchup. The Cardinals will be looking to extend their win streak to three for the second time this season, and to gain their first win against Frostburg.
Wheeling traveled to Tiffin, OH on Saturday to take on Great-Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) competitors Tiffin University. The Cardinals gained their fourth conference win and beat the Dragons for the third time in a row. Josh Wesneski and Jack Rowe were big contributors on the day with Wesneski leading in goals with three, and Rowe leading in points with four. Riley Lincoln led defensively with five ground balls and five caused turnovers. Mason Malec was the lead faceoff man going 6-15, while Dominico Cataldo went 2-3. Landen Martin stayed in goal all 60 minutes and made 10 saves on 19 shots.
The Cardinals currently sit in fifth in the G-MAC, right below Walsh; with Davenport, Seton Hill, and Northwood in the top three, all remaining undefeated right now. Jake Rowe has a top ten spot in all four offensive statistics in the G-MAC: goals per game is 2.67 with 24 goals over nine games, assists per game is 1.11 with 10 assists over nine games, points per game is 3.78 with 34 points over nine games, and shots per game is 7.89 with 71 shots over nine games. Landen Martin sits in the top ten for all goalie statistics in the G-MAC: goals against AVG is 9.94 with allowing 65 goals over seven games, saves per game is 13.71 with 96 saves over seven games, and save percentage is .596 with making 96 saves on 161 shots over seven games. Martin also sits top 10 for ground balls with an average of 4.57 per game with 32 ground balls over seven games. Riley Lincoln sits top ten for caused turnovers in the G-MAC with 1.89 per game after picking up 17 over all nine games.
The Matchup
Wheeling and Frostburg will be meeting for the fifth time. The Cardinals have not been able to come out on top in previous games, and in the first three meetings Frostburg was able to have a 12+ goal lead. Last season Wheeling was able to hold Frostburg to less than 10 goals and finish with a two goal difference. Four Cardinals were able to score during the game last season, with all being former players.
Frostburg currently sits in second place in the East Coast Conference (ECC) going 3-1. They have been able to play five top 15 teams in the nation, going 2-3 with loses against #1 Adelphi, #3 Saint Anselm, and #15 Molly, and wins against #12 Bentley and #14 Mercy. Their last game was against ECC competitor St. Thomas Aquinas, winning 14-9. The Bobcats had 12 different men score during the day, with junior midfielder Jack Hooks and sophomore midfielder Jackson Kanzler both having two goals to lead the attacking end. Senior attacker Sean Mullineaux also helped on the attacking end with three assists. Junior defender Ryder Walter led the defensive end with seven ground balls and four caused turnovers. Their lead faceoff man was freshman Ayden Viscount and he went 4-15, and split faceoffs with Breccan Liddy (1-5) and Payton Dean (0-6). Frostburg had three goalkeepers in net throughout the day. Junior Lukasz Barmosz started and played 36 minutes to make six saves on eight shots. Graduate student Riley Semmes and junior Jack Smith split the rest of the time in net making a combined three saves on 10 shots.
The Details
The Cardinals will travel to Frostburg, MD on Wednesday, April 8th with first faceoff at 6 PM in Bobcat Stadium. Live stats can be accessed HERE and the live stream can be viewed HERE.
