SPARKS, Md. –  It was the earliest start to the season in program history for first-year Head Coach Pat Yannarelli's Post University Men's Lacrosse team, as the Eagles took flight for a neutral site game at the U.S. Lax Facility in Sparks, Maryland against Wheeling University on Saturday afternoon. Before today, the earliest start to the season for Post came in 2020 when they opened the season at Chowan University on February 15^th, 2020.
 
Junior attacker Robbie McGrayne scored five goals on five shots while picking up four ground balls and was one of four scorers for the Eagles, but a one-goal second quarter for Post in which the Cardinals outscored them by four goals proved to be the difference maker in the final as the Eagles dropped their season opener, 15-11.

THE BASICS

Post University 11, Wheeling University 15

Post University (0-1)

Wheeling University (1-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED
McGrayne would get the offense started for Post, scoring the team's first goal of the season just under five minutes into the contest from junior long-stick James Sproul. Senior attacker Jacob Knippel would respond by getting Wheeling on the board only a minute and a half later with the help of junior attacker Ty Taylor and junior Dakota Strong gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game shortly after that, 2-1, on his unassisted goal.
 
The rest of the way it would be McGrayne and senior attacker Dylan Heald doing the damage for Post as the duo scored two goals each around a third goal by the Cardinals to give the Eagles a 5-3 lead after one. Junior midfielder Tim Keefe picked up assists on both of Heald's goals and the second of the two goals scored by the senior would be the first man-up goal of the year for Post as well.
 
Keefe would then go on to score his first of three goals in the game to extend Post's lead to three goals at the start of the second, but it would be the only goal the Eagles would score in that 15-minute frame while the Cardinals went on a 5-0 run. Five Eagle penalties would singlehandedly help lead Wheeling back into the driver's seat of the contest as senior attacker Brody Fawyer scored two goals along with another one each from Taylor and senior attacker Mike Anderson all on the man-advantage to help the Cardinals leapfrog in front by two at halftime.
 
McGrayne and Keefe looked to turn the momentum back in favor of the Eagles as they scored back-to-back goals in a matter of 1:13 to kick off the third and tie the game up. But sophomore midfielder Brenner Chase answered back to give the Cardinals the lead briefly before Keefe responded with a goal of his own to knot things at nine just over halfway through the third.
 
From there, the offense for the Eagles was stifled while Wheeling rattled off six consecutive goals between the third and fourth quarters to go ahead firmly by six, 15-8, with 3:57 to go in regulation. In the waning moments, sophomore attacker Ryan Denike and McGrayne would each get a goal on man-up chances for Post who would ultimately fall in their season opener, 15-11, to the Cardinals.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Robbie McGrayne starts off the 2023 season with a perfect shooting percentage after scoring five goals on all five shots he took today
• In his first start of the season, Cole George made 14 saves on 29 shots by Wheeling University while Austin Hall had 12 saves on 23 shots taken by the Eagles
• Overall, Post University had four man-up advantages and converted on three of them compared to a 4-for-9 day for Wheeling University  
• Faceoffs were nearly even with Wheeling winning 15 compared to 14 for Post – Noah Piette won 10-of-21 faceoffs for Post while Jaxon Holden was a perfect 4-for-4
• This was the first matchup in program history between the two teams

WHO'S NEXT
Post University gets right back at it a week from today when they continue their five-game road trip to start the 2024 campaign with a trip up to Buffalo, New York to take on D'Youville University next Saturday at 12:00 PM. The two teams have squared off once in program history which was last season at LaMoy Field in which the Eagles got a 19-9 victory for their first win of 2023.