Contact: Emily Zadny, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Box Score

ANGOLA, Ind. (Mar. 12, 2019) – The North Central College men's lacrosse team held off the Trine University Thunder (2-1) to remain unbeaten on the young season on Tuesday evening, coming away with a 7-4 victory thanks to strong defensive efforts both on the field and between the pipes and sharp shooting on the offensive end.

College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Defensive Player of the Week Jacob Ray helped get the Cardinals on the board early, connecting with Tommy Huizinga who fired one past the Thunder's goalkeeper. Trine's Neil Orr responded less than a minute later with a goal of his own, but Ray found Matt Sheinfeld with room to shoot four minutes into the contest to pull North Central ahead 2-1.

Huizinga added his second tally of the evening two minutes later off of an assist from Weaver, but Orr and Tyler Klima both added goals to level the score 3-3 after the first 15 minutes of play. North Central managed to pull ahead 5-3 going into halftime off of another goal from Huizinga and Ray adding his first goal of the game.

For nearly five minutes at the start of the third period, Trine maintained possession on the offensive end, firing nine shots in the span of three minutes at goalkeeper Dylan Cost. Cost recorded five saves during the barrage and played a critical role in keeping the Thunder at bay, setting up Noah Parrill to tack on another goal at 6:08 to increase the lead.

Trine scored one more goal in the third period, but it was strong defense in the fourth period and a goal from Ray that sealed the win for North Central.

Huizinga led all scorers with three goals while Ray added a pair of his own and two assists. He also went 10-15 at the face-off and picked up six ground balls. Steven Faux led North Central with seven ground balls and Cost had a tremendous game in goal with 14 saves.

As a team, North Central doubled up the Thunder with ten face-off wins to their five and scooped up 24 critical ground balls.

North Central (4-0) returns home to host La Roche College on Friday, Mar. 15 at 5 p.m. A link to live in-game coverage can be found HERE.