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

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Mar. 14, 2022) - Taking a trip to Lexington, Ky to play in their first game of their spring break, the North Central women's lacrosse team's late surge was not enough as they fell to the Transylvania University Pioneers 18-14 on a sunny afternoon inside Pat Deacon Stadium. 

The Cardinals (1-3, 0-0 CCIW) felt themselves playing catch up after the Pioneers (2-4) jumped out a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Tanya Czosek would get the Cardinals on the board as she tallied two goals with two minutes left in the quarter cutting the lead to four. The Pioneers would extend their lead to six once again as they tallied two quick goals in the second quarters before Raygn Jordan would jumpstart the Cardinals offense as they scored three unanswered goals cutting the lead to three. The Pioneers would end the half with a goal from Abbey Peterson as they would go into halftime with a 9-5 lead. 

In the second half, the Pioneers extended their lead back to six as they rattled off two goals early in the quarter before Reese McMullen would get the Cardinals back on the board with 12 minutes to play in the third. After a Pioneers goal, Jordan would start another three goal run for the Cardinals cutting the lead to three once again. Annelise Oster would score with one minute to play in the third, heading into the final quarter of play down 16-10. The Cardinals came out red hot in the fourth quarters scoring three unanswered goals which was started by Abby MacKenzie bringing the lead to 16-13. After two quick goals by the Pioneers, MacKenzie would tally her second goal of the game but it was not enough as the Pioneers held on for a 18-14 win. 

Oster led the team with three goals while MacKenzie, Czosek, and McMullen each had two goals and Ellie Yonak, Hannah park and Berit Vandenbroucke each tallied a goal. Ellie Gosselin led the team with three caused turnovers and five ground balls while Abigail Widd tallied 12 saves in net as she fell to 1-3 on the season. 

The Cardinals are back in action Wednesday as they continue their spring break trip with a non-conference matchup against Centre College in Danville, Ky. The opening face-off is set for 5:30 pm (6:30 pm EST) inside Amend Field. 

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