Contact: Zachary Witken, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, zdwitken@noctrl.edu

May 8th, 2021 - Looking to win the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Championship, the North Central College men's lacrosse team battled against a tough Illinois Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon, with the Titans coming out victorious 18-17 in overtime. 

Scott Allgood was able to score the first goal of the game for the Cardinals with 7:02 left in the first quarter to make the score 2-1 Illinois Wesleyan. Just over 30 seconds later Riley Bachinski would find the back of the net to even up the score half way through the first quarter of the CCIW Championship. The Cardinals would take the lead after one quarter of play 5-4 with goals from Jack Moran, Tom Eberhardt, and Bachinski again. 

The Cardinal offense would stall in the second quarter, going over 11 minutes of game time without scoring a goal. With 4:28 remaining in the half Patrick Fransen would catch a pass from Luke Illgen to make the score 7-6 in favor of the Titans. With two quarters of play over with, the Cardinals headed into halftime down by three with two quarters left to go. 

After a third quarter in which both teams scored four goals, the Titans still remained on top by three goals. Moran, Eberhardt (twice), and Nick Rubino all added goals for the Cardinals in the third quarter. 

The Cardinals would not go down without a fight though. Opening up the fourth quarter of play, the offense went on the attack with four straight goals to open up the quarter. To make the score 15-14 Cardinals with 9:21 left in the game, John Fitzgerald sent a shot from Cardinal territory to give the Cardinals the lead in the Championship. Rubino would add another goal with 3:12 left to increase the lead by two. Seconds later, Illinois Wesleyan's Max Bousy netted a goal with 3:04 left and then less then a minute later, Connor Kiichle would tie the game up and send this game into overtime. 

Unfortunately, at 1:20 into sudden death overtime, Illinois Wesleyan's Daniel Dickerson received a pass from teammate Paul Mucci that found the back of the net to win the CCIW Championship.

Jake Allgood secured seven ground balls and saved 20 shots in the afternoon. Eberhardt finished the game with four goals, one assist, and seven ground balls. 

The Cardinals currently sit with a 12-2 (5-1 CCIW) record and ranked fourth in Region V. The North Central College men's lacrosse still has an opportunity to earn an at large bid into the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament. Click HERE to watch the selection show tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET

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