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

Box Score

Apr. 17, 2019 – Under the lights at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, the North Central College men's lacrosse team suffered a devastating 9-7 loss at the hands of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) foe Augustana College (7-7, 2-1 CCIW) despite both teams playing nearly deadlocked lacrosse for the first 50-minutes and mirroring each other in nearly every statistical category.

The Cardinals' leading scorer Jared Weaver put North Central on the board first just two minutes into the game with an unassisted goal and the Cardinals' defense were able to keep Augustana from scoring for nearly seven minutes until Trevor Moore put up the first tally for the Vikings. Matt Sheinfeld gave the Cardinals the lead back a few minutes later with help from an assist from Weaver, but it was Moore again with less than a minute to go in the first period who tied the game, 2-2. The Vikings' leading faceoff man, John Calabrese, scooped up the ball off the X and took it to the house, scoring just seven seconds after Moore and putting Augustana ahead, 3-2.

Augustana opened the second period with a goal to pull away 4-2, the largest lead of the contest, but Tommy Huizinga came up with a much needed goal to stop the Vikings' momentum. The Vikings took back the two-point lead after nearly nine minutes of scoreless play but Huizinga had the last strike of the first half off of an assist from Weaver, going into halftime down 5-4.

Both teams traded goal in the third period, coming back to a 6-7 score until Sheinfeld scored the tying seventh goal, sending a laser of a shot past Augustana goalkeeper Tommy Angelos, firing up the Cardinals' squad. The Vikings would score twice more in the final period en route to victory, but not without the persistence of the Cardinals' defense.

Across the board, both teams were nearly neck and neck statistically, with North Central taking 30 shots and Augustana 29, the Cardinals coming up with eight caused turnovers to the Vikings' seven, and both teams committing 19 turnovers. The main advantage for Augustana came on the faceoff, winning 13 of the 19 taken and coming away with 27 ground balls to North Central's 20.

Weaver led the team with three goals and two assists while Huizinga and Sheinfeld had two scores apiece. Defensively, John Fitzgerald, Steven Faux, Jacob Ray and Steven Dale had four ground balls and Fitzgerald and Sean Tomonari had two caused turnovers. Dylan Cost came away with eight saves despite taking the loss.

The Cardinals (8-3, 1-2 CCIW) return home for the final time this season, hosting Elmhurst College for Senior Day on Saturday, Apr. 20. at 1 p.m. Links to live in-game coverage can be found HERE.