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

ELMHURST, Ill. (Sept. 24, 2022) - Opening up Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on the road, the North Central College men's soccer team shutout the Elmhurst University Bluejays 3-0 to pick up their first conference win and extend their unbeaten streak to nine games Saturday night. 

The Cardinals (7-0-2, 1-0-0 CCIW) came out firing to start the game as Edoardo Bonifacio found a hole in the defense but his shot was handled by Noah Reed, eliminating the Cardinals opportunity. Just 40 seconds later, Aidan Westerberg slipped past the Bluejays defense and fired a shot on net but Reed tallied his second save of the night to shut down the Cardinals once again. The Cardinals would find themselves with two more opportunities in the tenth and 12th minute but Reed would make two more saves, shutting down the high powered Cardinal offense. North Central would finally find the back of the net in the 14th minute as Westerberg sent a strike past Reed to put the Cardinals up 1-0. The Bluejays (3-4-1, 0-1-0 CCIW) were looking to tie the game at one and in the 17th minute, Jame Serrano sent a shot on net but his shot was swallowed up by Sid Marquardt. The Cardinals would finish the half shooting five times, four of which were handled by Reed and they would head into the half with a one goal lead. 

The Cardinals found scoring opportunities early in the second half as Jacopo De Collibus sent a strike to the top right corner of the net but his shot was saved by Reed. The action was at a standstill until Westerberg finished off a Bonifacio pass to give the Cardinals a two goal lead in the 60th minute. Both offenses were at a standstill until Lukas Munchausen found Davis Nelson who sent a strike past Reed to put the Cardinals up 3-0 in the 67th minute. The Cardinal defense only allowed one shot in the second half which was wide right and the Cardinals would leave Langhorst Field with a 3-0 victory over the Bluejays. 

The Cardinal defense showed their dominance as they only allowed two shots with one being on goal. Marquardt tallied one save in the contest as he improved his record to 7-0-1 on the season while picking up his fifth shutout of the season. Marquardt is now the career leader for shutouts in program history with 16, this record has not been broken since the 1981 season. 

The Cardinals are back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 28 as they take a short trip to Aurora University for a non conference matchup against the Spartans at 7 pm inside Spartan Athletic Park. 

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