Contact: Matthew Eaker, Sports Information Graduate Assistant,
mreaker@noctrl.edu
Box Score
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Feb. 24, 2023) - Kicking off their season inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, the North Central College men's lacrosse team dominated crosstown rival, Benedictine University, 14-3 to claim the Battle of Chicago Maple Avenue Cup for the third consecutive season on Friday night.
North Central (1-0) has won the last two meetings between these two schools but the Eagles (0-1) found the back of the net early as Jordan Chock sent one past Jake Allgood to give the visitors a one goal lead. The Eagles early momentum would fade away as Joey D'Cunha would finish off a Jack Moran assist which set up a three goal stretch to put the Cardinals up 3-1 heading into the second quarter. Just 40 seconds into the new quarter, Nick Rubino sent one past James McDonald to extend the Cardinals lead to three but Will Robinson would cut the deficit to two with 10:30 left in the quarter. Following a D'Cunha shot, Tom Eberhardt picked up a loose ball in front of the net and buried it into the back of the net to extend the Cardinals lead back to three. The Cardinals would head into halftime with a 7-2 lead following goals by Moran and Rubino.
The second half started quickly as Moran scored an unassisted goal with 13:14 remaining but the Cardinals offense would stall, not finding the back of the net until Eberhardt scored his third goal of the game with 3:16 left in the quarter. North Central would head into the final quarter of play with a 9-2 lead but they would quickly extend their lead as Rubino beat his defender around the crease and sent one past McDonald to give them a 10-2 lead with 13:31 remaining. Eberhardt and Moran would connect for the next two goals but Rubino would find Eberhardt with 6:32 left in the quarter, to give the Cardinals a 13-2 lead. The Eagles would tally one final goal as Luke Grant finished off a Ben Zimmerman pass to cut the lead to ten but Eberhardt would bury his seventh goal of the night off a Rylan McQueary pass to give the Cardinals a 14-3 win over the Eagles.
Eberhardt led the charge with seven goals while Rubino (4), Moran (2) and D'Cuhna (1) each tallied goals in the contest. Moran led the Cardinals with three assists and McQueary dished out two assists.
Dylan Mlinarich led the defense with four caused turnovers while scooping up five ground balls. Trenton Herubin scooped up four ground balls and forced three turnovers. Jake Allgood tallied five saves and was credited with the win while Aidan Murphy stepped in for the second half and tallied three saves.
The Cardinals head to Delaware, Ohio on Saturday, March 4 as they take on the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University. The opening face-off is set for 1 pm inside Selby Stadium.
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