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

Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Mar. 7, 2023) - The North Central College men's lacrosse team bounced back from a one goal loss with an offensive explosion as they knocked off the Whittier College Poets 17-9 on Tuesday night inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. The Cardinals saw Junior Tom Eberhardt break the career scoring record. 

The Cardinals (2-1) and Poets (1-5) met for the first time in program history and the Cardinals' found the back of the net early in the first quarter as Charlie Snyder found Nick Rubino to give the hometown team a 1-0 lead. Eberhardt would find the back of the net for the first time after finishing off a Rylan McQueary assist but the Poets would cut the lead to one with 8:10 remaining. After goalkeeper Jake Allgood picked up a loose ball, he connected with Trenton Herubin who streaked across the midline and put one past the Poets goalkeeper to extend their lead to 3-1. Whittier would strike back with 5:15 remaining but the Cardinals would end the quarter on a three goal run to head into the second quarter up 6-2.

 Snyder got the second quarter rolling as he finished off a McQueary pass to give the Cardinals a five goal lead. McQueary would tally his third assist of the night as he found Joey D'Cunha with 8:36 left to give them an 8-2 lead. However, Whittier would bounce back with two goals of their own before Eberhardt and Rubino found the back of the net to extend their lead to 10-4. With just seconds remaining in the half, Evan Lilga snuck a loose ball past the Poet's goalkeeper to give them a seven goal lead heading into halftime. 

The third quarter started off on the right foot as McQueary and Eberhardt connected for another goal to give the Cardinals a 12-4 lead but both teams wouldn't find the  back of the net for another ten minutes. With 2:47 remaining, Evan Watanabe gave the Cardinals a nine goal lead as he sent a strike past the Poets goalkeeper but after a penalty by North Central, Whittier's Colin Warme found the back of the net to bring the score to 13-5. 

Eberhardt tallied another goal after finishing off a Rubino pass with 12:26 remaining in the fourth but Owen Wallace would find Luke McElligott to bring the score to 14-6. Eberhardt started a three goal run for North Central as he scored his fifth and final goal of the night off another Rubino assist but the Poets would find the back of the net three more times with a minute remaining to give the Cardinals a 17-9 win. 

Eberhardt's team-high five goals was enough to break Jared Weaver's '20 scoring record (98). Eberhardt now has 102 career goals with 15 goals already this season. Rubino scored three goals in the contest while D'Cunha had two. McQueary had a career-high four assists in the win. Jake Allgood earned the win as he tallied three saves, Aidan Murphy stepped in for the second half and tallied four saves. 

The Cardinals head to Orlando, Fla. on March 12 as they kick off their spring break trip with an 11 am tilt against Clarkson University at the Northeast Regional Park. 

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