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

Apr. 23, 2022 - On a beautiful afternoon in Naperville, the North Central College women's lacrosse team honored their five senior members before soaring past the Elmhurst University Bluejays 20-3 inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. 

Prior to the start of the contest, the Cardinals honored Mary Pinkowski, Berit Vandenbroucke, Bry'Shawna Walker, Abigail Widd and Ellie Yonak for their hard work and dedication over the last four years. 

The Cardinals (4-11, 2-3 CCIW) jumped out to an early lead as Abby MacKenzie scored the first goal of the game just under four minutes into the game which led to a four goal stretch putting the Cardinals up 4-0 with just seven minutes to play in the first quarter. The Bluejays would get the final goal of the quarter with just under six minutes to play to cut the Cardinal lead to three heading into the second quarter. The Cardinals started the second quarter with a quick goal by Tanya Czosek before Lucy Culig would score just 16 seconds later giving the Cardinals a 6-1 lead with ten minutes to play in the half. MacKenzie would tally two more goals before Yonak and Pinkowski would tally a trio of goals, giving the Cardinals a 11-1 lead late in the second quarter. Vandenbroucke would start a three goal run to end the half, giving the Cardinals a 14-1 lead. 

Culig would start the second half with a goal off an assist from MacKenzie extending the Cardinals lead to 15 but the Bluejays would respond as they rattled off two quick goals to cut the lead to 13. With just five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Walker would slip through the defense and score her first career goal to put the Cardinals up 17-3 heading into the final quarter of play. Pinkowski would score the first goal of the fourth quarter with just seven minutes to play before Vandenbroucke would score two more goals to give the Cardinals a 20-3 win on Senior Day. 

MacKenzie led the team with five goals while Vandenbroucke had four goals and Czosek, Pinkowski and Culig each had two goals each. Tori Leonard led the team with three caused turnovers while Culig led the team with six ground balls and Yonak tallied five. Widd tallied 11 saves in the contest while she improved her record to 4-11 on the season.

The Cardinals are back in action on Wednesday, Apr. 27 as they close out the regular season with a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) matchup against No. 20 University of Chicago. The action is set to start at 6 pm inside Stagg Field. 

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