Late Offensive Burst Not Enough as Men's Lacrosse Falls to Davenport
Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team (0-3, 0-0) opened the home half of their 2022 schedule on Saturday when they hosted Davenport at Bishop Schmitt Field. They outscored the Panthers over the final 30 minutes of play, but it was too little too late as Wheeling fell 10-6. Even though they lost, Wheeling showed that they could battle with a tough opponent.
Over the first few minutes of the game, the two teams were battling for control after Davenport won the opening faceoff. Wheeling caused the first turnover of the game but gave the ball right back to the Panthers on two separate occasions and the Panthers took advantage. Jordan Caskenette got the ball in his stick and scored the first goal of the afternoon to put Davenport up 1-0. Davenport would add one more goal in the period, but it was a period ruled mostly by the defense. Wheeling would find their way onto the board as the clock ticked past the one-minute mark when Jacob Knippel scored his third goal of the season off an assist from Brody Fawer. That would bring the score to 2-1, where it would stay at the end of the first quarter.
As the second quarter began, Wheeling's offend got into a groove and took a majority of the shots through the first five minutes. They outshot the Panthers 5-0 over the first five minutes of the quarter but were unable to get any of them into the net. It would be Davenport that found the net, scoring the first two goals of the quarter to bring the game to 6-1. The Cardinals would win the ensuing face-off and took the ball into their offensive zone. Dakota Strong would take the shot and scored his first goal of the night to make it a 6-2 game. The teams would trade goals with Adam Smellie scoring for Davenport and Mike Andersson scoring for Wheeling, but a final Davenport goal with 21 seconds to go sent the teams to the locker room with the score at 8-3.
After Davenport scored the first goal of the second half to make it 9-3, Wheeling needed a spark to get it back in the driver's seat. That work would come from freshman Brenner Chase scored his first career collegiate goal. The shot would come with 10:57 to go in the third as Chase took the pass from Jake Wodarek and found the back of the net making it. 9-4 game. Wheeling's second goal came from senior leader Matt Anderson after back-to-back shits by Brody Fawver failed to find the net. Anderson took the rebound off the save and pushed it into the back of the net to make it a four-point game. Wheeling outscored their opponent in a quarter for the second time this season and went into the fourth trailing 9-5.
However, the goal that put Davenport over the edge came with 10:55 to play as Davenport's Jordan Caskenette found the net. That made it a 10-5 game and made things much harder for the Cardinals. The final goal of the game came from Andersson, his second of the game, with 4:51 showing on the clock. After a great save from Wolford, Wheeling cleared the ball and Andersson made his move into the offensive zone. He took the shot and scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season bringing the score to 10-6. Wheeling would get four more shots off in the quarter, but none would fall as they fell 10-6.
Andersson once again had a big day on offense with two goals, one assist, and three points. Jacob Knippel, Dakota Strong, Matthew Anderson, and Chase Brenner each added goals to round out Wheeling's big day on the field. Andersson and Brody Fawver would lead the offense with eight shots apiece in the loss. Joshua Wolford got the start in net and tired his season-high with 16 saves in the loss while allowing 10 goals. As a team, Wheeling put 17 of their 33 shots on goal and was outshot just 37-33 on the day.
The Wheeling Men's Lacrosse team is back in action on Saturday, February 26th, when they go on the road to Roberts Wesleyan College at noon.