Contact: Elliott Carr, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-530
 
Box Score

Rock Island, Ill. (May 3, 2017) – The North Central College women's lacrosse team, battled the three-time defending College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season champion Augustana College Vikings to a stalemate for the majority of the game, but ultimately fell short 19-13 in a CCIW Tournament game at Thorson-Lucken Field on Wednesday night.

Showing why Thorson-Lucken Field has been a fortress for opposing teams to play at over the years, the Vikings struck first when they scored the game's opening goal with 25:28 on the clock.

By the time there was 21:10 remaining in the half, Augustana had extended their lead to 3-0, forcing the Cardinals to pull off a comeback for the ages in order to advance.
Augustana widened the gap even further with 19:20 left, thanks to a goal from sophomore Carla Bennet.

Senior Madison Maas did her best to help North Central bounce back, scoring the Cardinals' opening goal with 18:07 remaining. The Vikings responded with another goal, but with 13:40 remaining in the half, junior Jordyn McFarlane found Maas in scoring position for her second goal of the contest, bringing the score to 5-2.

Shortly after, with 12:51 on the clock, junior Emily Zadny brought the Cardinals within just two goals of Augustana, scoring her first goal of the game. The two teams would continue to trade goals, with the Vikings scoring again with 12:00 remaining, followed soon after by Zadny's second goal with 11:49 left in the half.

The Vikings were intent on now allowing North Central to put too much of a dent in the lead, scoring again with 9:59 remaining. The Cardinals then accumulated back-to-back goals, with senior Nikki Merriss scoring with 8:49 left to play, followed by freshman Jessica Deetjen with 8:33 left to play.

While the Cardinals conceded another goal after this, Zadny scored her third of the contest with 5:23 remaining, followed by back-to-back goals from the Vikings. Senior Kassie Whaling would score her 43^rd goal of the season with 3:52 on the clock, but Augustana would go on a 2-0 run to close out the half, which saw the Cardinals enter the break, down 11-8.

North Central came out of halftime in impressive fashion, with Deetjen's second goal of the contest coming on a free-position shot in just the 28^th minute. Almost one minute later, with 27:19 on the clock, Zadny narrowed the deficit to one, and brought the score to 11-10 with almost an entire half still to play.

With 25:20 on the clock the Vikings scored their opening goal of the half, but Maas scored her 50^th goal of the season soon after, with 22:12 on the clock, making it a one-point game again.

Capitalizing on a woman-up situation, Deetjen made it a tie-game with 21:23 remaining. Augustana would respond with another goal of their own, but Maas leveled the scores again at 13-13, with 16:56 left to play.

Unfortunately for North Central, Augustana showed why they are the defending conference champions, as they went on a 6-0 run to close out the game.

Zadny and Maas both led front the front, scoring four goals each, with McFarlane's one assist leading the team in that category. Zadny's five ground balls were a team-high, along with Deetjen's four draw controls. The leader in caused turnovers was also Zadny, who finished with three, while sophomore goal keeper Camille Seghesio added seven saves.

With several freshmen already playing major roles this season, combined with the lessons passed onto them from the graduating seniors, the Cardinals will be a force to be reckoned with in the CCIW for years to come.