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

Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Mar. 23, 2023) - The North Central College men's lacrosse battled back from a two goal deficit, scoring the games final three goals to knock off Aurora University 13-12 on Thursday night inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. 

The Spartans (4-3) came out firing as Ben Strub kicked off the scoring with an unassisted goal before Luke Hill won the next face-off and found the back of the net just seconds later to give the visitors a early 2-0 lead. They extended their leads to three with 11:50 remaining but Jack Moran got the Cardinals on the board with an unassisted goal with 5:33 remaining. The first quarter would end with a 3-1 Spartan advantage but Joey D'Cunha cut the lead to one as he found the back of the net just 44 seconds into the quarter. 

The Spartans responded with a goal of their own but  Rylan McQueary and D'Cunha found the back of the net just minutes apart to tie the game at four. The Spartans regained a 6-4 lead after scoring two unanswered goals but the Cardinals would strike back as Moran found Nick Rubino with 4:41 remaining to cut the lead to one. Moran's assist makes him the all-time career assist leader, breaking Noah Parrill's '19 record. Just eight seconds later, Zach Kuyava won the next face-off and found Tom Eberhardt to tie the game at six. The Spartans would take an 8-6 halftime lead after scoring two unanswering goals. 

Aurora extended their lead to three as they found the back of the net early in the third quarter but the Cardinals would go on a three goal stretch, two of the goals from Eberhardt, to tie the game up once again. Luke Illgen would find the back of the net after another Spartans goal, leveling the score at ten. Aurora gave themselves a two lead heading into the fourth quarter and the Cardinals would get two goals from Eberhardt and D'Cunha to tie the game up once again. With 1:46 remaining in the game, D'Cunha fired a shot on net which was saved by the Spartans goalkeeper, but the rebound found Rubino's stick and he buried the game winner to give the Cardinals 13-12 lead. In a last ditch effort, the Spartans found themselves on the attacking end and their final shot of the game was saved by Aidan Murphy, securing the comeback win. 

Eberharrdt led the Cardinals with four goals while D'Cunha tied a career-high with three goals. Moran and Kuyava each had one assist, the only two for the Cardinals in the contest. Trenton Herubin scooped up two ground balls while forcing a team-high four turnovers. Murphy stepped into the net in the second half, tallying 11 saves and earning his first win over the season. 

The Cardinals are idle until Wednesday, March 29 when they travel to Dubuque, Iowa for a non-conference matchup against the University of Dubuque at 7 pm inside Oyen Field. 

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