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

April 20., 2016 – The North Central College women's lacrosse team fought valiantly, but ultimately came up short against College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) power Augustana College 13-7, on Wednesday night at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

The Cardinals would start the game off on the back foot, as the Vikings would score with 27:53 left in the half. The Vikings showed early why they have been such a dominant force in the CCIW, racing out to 4-0 lead, until junior Kassie Whaling scored off a Gina Fisher assist.

Whaling continued her impressive first half, scoring again with 7:01 on the clock, bringing the score to 5-2, in the Vikings favor. Thanks to two more goals from the Vikings, the Cardinals went into halftime trailing 7-2.

The Cardinals came into the second half determined to pull off a comeback for the ages, and they got off on the right foot when senior Claire Norfleet scored off a free position shot with 29:22 remaining. Junior Madison Maas further narrowed the deficit, scoring thanks to an assist from Fisher with 27:25 left to play. The Cardinals attack continued to fire, when sophomore Kara Stevens scored with 25:31 on the clock, followed by Fisher with 24:50 remaining, her 50^th goal of the season.

With the Cardinals clawing their way back into the game and only being down 7-6, the game was there for the taking. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Vikings reeled off six consecutive goals to get ahead 13-6. Norfleet again scored off a free position shot with 6:59 left to play, showing that despite the margin, the Cardinals would continue to compete in the face of adversity.

Despite the end result, there were several positives the Cardinals took out of the game, including Fisher breaking the single-season record for groundballs, which she previously set in 2014.

The Cardinals play next on Saturday April 20, when they travel to Bloomington for a CCIW matchup against Illinois Wesleyan University (11-3, 1-2).  Live stats and video can be accessed by clicking HERE.