Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

May 2, 2018 - An early deficit and a pair of lightning delays did little to deter the fighting spirit of the North Central College women's lacrosse team Wednesday evening, as the Cardinals erupted for 16 goals in the second half and secured a 20-17 victory over Carthage College in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament semifinals at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

After the teams waited an extra 40 minutes to get the contest started due to an early lightning strike, Carthage (12-6) dominated the early going with four unanswered goals. The Cardinals got their first goal with 15:46 on the first-half clock, as Christina Truver forced a turnover which led to a goal from Jessica Deetjen. The visitors, however, responded with two more goals to take their largest lead of the night at 6-1.

The North Central defense kept the Lady Reds out of the net for the final 10:28 of the half, permitting just three shots during that time. Deetjen, meanwhile, kept the hosts in contention with three straight goals to cut the lead to 6-4 by halftime. 

Trailing, 9-6, early in the second period, the Cardinals (16-2) embarked on a four-goal surge that would yield their first lead of the game. Addie Records and Mynk Richardson-Clerk got the rally started by scoring on free-position attempts, and North Central followed with two quick scores by playing aggressively after controlling the draw. Truver assisted Grace Steiner and Nelle Scranton on goals just 22 seconds apart, putting the home team in front, 10-9, with 21:02 to play.

Carthage's Rachel Mussell scored twice in succession to nudge the Lady Reds back into the lead, but Deetjen connected on another free-position shot and Madeline McHugh threaded the needle to a sprinting Annabelle Steiner in the critical scoring area twice in a 25-second span to give the Cardinals a 13-11 advantage. Elena Herman briefly broke up the rally with a goal for Carthage with 12:14 on the clock, but Richardson-Clerk, Scranton and Truver each answered with a goal to put North Central in control of the contest at 16-12. North Central led, 17-13, when another lightning delay halted the game with 5:52 to go. McHugh scored once and Deetjen twice after play resumed to stall Carthage's final comeback bid.

Deetjen scored a career-high nine goals, the second-highest single-game total in North Central's history. Truver finished with 11 draw controls and Richardson-Clerk totaled eight, while goalkeeper Abigail Leers stopped 10 shots in a relief appearance to earn her fifth win of the year.

Mussell finished with nine goals for Carthage and Jessie Gibson contributed nine draw controls. Mussell and Deetjen now share the CCIW Tournament record for single-game scoring, as both broke the previous record of seven goals.

The Cardinals will play for the CCIW Tournament on Saturday at top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University (14-4). Play at Tucci Stadium is scheduled to begin at 12:00 noon.