Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Oct. 22, 2022 - The No. 19 North Central College women's soccer team defeated the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season champion, Illinois Wesleyan, on Saturday in a 3-2 thriller inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. 

The first half proved uneventful as neither team was able to find a strong offensive push. The Cardinals outshot the Titans in the first half 6-3 but Illinois Wesleyan's Liza Matimore set the pace for the second half with a goal in the 47th minute to put the Titans up 1-0. 

Alaina Kuhn managed to draw the score even after battling in the box for a goal in the 63rd minute. Illinois Wesleyan's Jenna Li answered back quickly with a goal in the 65th minute of play to pull ahead 2-1 over the Cardinals. 

Following a trio of corner kicks, Sam Schutte assisted Brooke Nelson's rebound goal in the 74th minute to even the score at two-all. Another corner kick in the 89th minute proved victorious for the Cardinals as Yazmin Martinez connected with Katie Huey for a header goal to snag the win in North Central's final CCIW regular season home match. 

The Cardinals outshot the Titans 23-8 while Jordan Boyd added another save to her season total of 45. Sarah Andrey was the team lead for shots with five, followed by Morgan Verbeten with four. 

North Central moves to a 4-0-3 CCIW record as they handed Illinois Wesleyan their only conference loss of the season. The Titans were crowned the CCIW regular season champions after today's match with their 6-1-1 CCIW record. 

North Central will round out their CCIW regular season with a trip to Rock Island, Ill. on Wednesday, Oct. 26 as they face the Augustana College Vikings. Game time at Thorson-Lucken Field is set for 7 p.m.

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