Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Nov. 6, 2019) - Competing in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament semifinals, the North Central College men's soccer team was forced into a shootout against Illinois Wesleyan University as neither team let up a goal through 110 minutes of action. In the shootout, the Titans won 4-1 to advance to the CCIW Tournament Championship match on Saturday.

The game got off to a slow start as the only shot attempt through the first 12 minutes of gameplay was missed wide by Illinois Wesleyan's Trevor Martin. The Cardinals had a few first-half opportunities, but came away empty-handed as the game went tied into halftime.

The second-half saw four North Central shot attempts, but none were on target as the Cardinals offense was held in check by the Titans. Illinois Wesleyan took seven shots in the second-half, but Cardinals' goalkeeper Marco Soto tallied three saves to keep the Titans off of the scoreboard.

In both of the overtime periods, North Central had opportunities to take the game, but they were squandered by the Titan defense. The Cardinals posted six shots in the overtime periods but none were able to find the back of the net as the game would end in a tie, and the winner would be decided by a shootout.

Justin Yaeger of Illinois Wesleyan took and scored the first shootout attempt of the game. Austin Lombardi stepped up and hit his shot off of the crossbar as North Central would be down 1-0 after both sides took their first shots. Both Orion Marty and Spencer Wiese buried their shots to move the shootout score to 2-1. Bobby Reichert found the back of the net to give the Titans a 3-1 advantage with senior Alexis Flores on deck. He also hit the crossbar as Patrick Hickey of Illinois Wesleyan secured the game for the Titans on the next shootout attempt to give Illinois Wesleyan the 4-1 advantage.