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Contact: Elliott Carr,  Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
 
Box Score

Nov 7., 2015 – After a stretch of conference games that defined resilience, the North Central College men's soccer team were defeated 3-1 by Carthage College, in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) tournament championship game at Art Keller Field.

As has been true all season long, the Cardinals never gave up, and responded by raising their game in the face of adversity.

Freshman Zach Schofstall scored in the 16^th minute for the Red Men, assisted by junior Austin Bitta.  Bitta would later score himself in the 4^th minute, with an assist from senior Ivan Chavez.

The Cardinals would then bounce back, thanks to a goal from sophomore Ryan O'Deen, assisted by senior Joey Faleni.

Faleni would then come close to levelling the score in the 71^st minute, if not for a save from Redmen goalkeeper Niko Mavrogiannis. Senior Matt Koth would then send a ball just inches above crossbar in the 77^th minute, in what looked certain to be the games equalizer.

Sophomore Johnny Rimkus would score the final goal for the Red Men in the 80^th minute, assisted by Bitta and freshmen Kevin Mahoney.

Senior goalkeeper Justin De Boer was under pressure throughout the match, and did well to come up with 6 saves, often in heavy traffic.

Regardless of the result of tonight's match, making it to the conference championship game after several close, early-season losses against nationally-ranked oppoonents has been a testament to the character of the Cardinals. A lesser team would have given up on their season, but the Cardinals used those experiences to make them better, and come within a win of the NCAA Division III national tournament. Making the conference tournament for the first time in program history is something the Cardinals can be extremely proud of.