Contact: Matthew Eaker, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, mreaker@noctrl.edu

Oct. 26, 2022 - On a beautiful Wednesday evening at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, the North Central College men's soccer team honored their seven senior members before taking down the Augustana College Vikings 4-1 in their regular season finale. 

Prior to the contest, head coach Enzo Fuschino and the men's soccer team honored Pablo Bustamante, Jack Fairwood, Johnny Kraemer, Eli Larson, Zach Lass, Caezar Martinez and Lukas Munchausen for their hard work and dedication over the last four years. 

The Cardinals (14-0-4, 7-0-1 CCIW) looked to close out the regular season over College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) foe Augustana College. The Cardinal offense was firing on all cylinders early as Aidan Westerberg sent a Fairwood past goalkeeper Jason Miller to put the Cardinals up 1-0 just three minutes into the game. In the 16th minute, the Cardinals would strike again as Matteo Innocenti sent a perfect pass up to a streaking Eloi Nyibizi who would put one past Miller to give the Cardinals a two goal lead. Just eight minutes later, Humberto Jaimes would extend the Cardinal lead to three as he finished off a Bustamante pass. Jaziel Enriquez would fire off the final shot of the half but his shot was saved by Miller and the Cardinals would head into the break with a comfortable 3-0 lead. 

The Cardinals were looking to add some insurance goals in the second half and in the 55th minute, Kraemer sent a header to the top left corner but his shot was knocked away by a Viking defender, shutting down the scoring attempt. Following a yellow card by the Vikings,  Westerberg would find a hole in the defense and net his second goal of the night to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead. The Cardinals seemed to add another shutout to their resume this season but goalkeeper Riley Johnson would receive a yellow card inside the penalty area, awarding the Vikings with a penalty kick. Mauricio Cruz would line up for the penalty kick and send one past Johnson to cut the lead to three with just 14 minutes remaining. Both teams would stall and the Cardinals would end the regular season with a 4-1 win. 

Following the contest, the Cardinals were awarded with the CCIW regular season championship trophy by athletic director Jim Miller '86 after posting a 7-0-1 record in conference play this season. The Cardinals locked up the No. 1 seed in the CCIW tournament and will host the semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 5:45 pm. The Cardinals will face the winner of the Carthage College and Elmhurst University game which will be played on Saturday. 

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