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

Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Apr. 26, 2023) - Hosting a game between the top two teams in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), the North Central College men's lacrosse team saw their lead slip away as they fell in 15-14 in double overtime to Illinois Wesleyan University Wednesday night at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

The most anticipated matchup of the season had a lot on the line as the winner would be named the conference's regular season champion. The Titan's have won the last four regular season titles and the Cardinals were looking to knock them off for the first time in program history. 

The Titans (11-3, 5-0 CCIW) found the back of the net first as Trystan Seeley fired a shot past Jake Allgood to put the visitors up 1-0. The Cardinals (9-5, 4-1 CCIW) offense came alive as Nick Rubino netted his first goal of the game with 8:23 remaining in the first quarter. Joey D'Cunha gave the Cardinals a three goal lead as he fired two shots past the Titans goalkeeper late in the first quarter. A minute after D'Cunha's second goal, Rylan McQueary found Jack Moran for another Cardinal goal before Luke Illgen closed out the first quarter with a goal of his own to five the Cardinals a 5-1 lead heading into the second. 

The second quarter was dominated by the Titans as Ike Eastburn found Conner Kiichle just 45 seconds into the quarter. After a Cardinals penalty, Illinois Wesleyan made them pay as Gage Black fired a shot past Allgood to cut the lead to 5-3. Illgen stopped the Titans scoring streak as he scored an unassisted goal to put the Cardinals back on top by three. The Titans scored three more unanswered goals to tie the game at six but with 48 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Rubino found McQueary to send the Cardinals into halftime with a 7-6 lead. 

The Titans came out firing in the second half as they found the back of the net twice to take a 8-7 lead with 9:13 remaining. The Cardinals equaled the score at eight as Moran and Illgen connected with 5:09 remaining. North Central would head into the final quarter with a one goal lead as Evan Watanabe picked off a Titan pass and sprinted the length of the field, firing a shot past the Titans goalkeeper to give the Cardinals a 9-8 lead. 

Connor Kiichle kicked off the scoring in the fourth quarter as he netted the equalizer with 13:21 remaining in the final quarter of play. The Cardinals would find themselves with a two goal lead as Moran and Tom Eberhardt found the back. The Titans and Cardinals would go back and forth until 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter when Rubino found Eberhardt all alone to give the Cardinals a one goal lead. Eberhardt's goal seemed to be game winner but with seconds remaining Trystan Seeley fired a shot past Allgood to knot the game at fourteen, sending the game to overtime. 

After one overtime period with no action, Trystan Seeley sealed the Titans fifth-straight regular season title as he scored a man-up goal, giving Illinois Wesleyan a 15-14 win. 

Connor Kiichle led all scorers with four goals while Moran, Eberhardt and Illgen each tallied three goals. Rubino and McQueary led the team with three assists. Jake Paris led the defensive efforts with three caused turnovers and four ground balls. Zach Kuyava went 16 of 32 at the face-off X tonight, splitting with the Titan's face-off unit. Jake Allgood tallied ten saves in the contest as he fell to 5-5 on the season. 

The Cardinals head to Rock Island, Ill. for the regular season finale as they take on Augustana College on Saturday, April 29 at 1 pm at Thorson-Lucken Field.  

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