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

Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Apr. 29, 2023) - Wrapping up their regular season with a road trip to Rock Island, the North Central College men's lacrosse team defeated the Augustana College Vikings 15-4 on Saturday afternoon at Thorson-Lucken Field. Nick Rubino highlighted the Cardinals as he netted his 100th career goal. 

The Cardinals (10-5, 5-1 CCIW) kicked off the scoring with  as Luke Illgen fired a shot past the Vikings to give North Central a 1-0 lead with 12:05 remaining in the first. Jack Moran and Tom Eberhardt connected for the Cardinals second goals before Illgen found Rubino with 2:48 remaining in the first to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Rubino tallied two quick goals to extend the Cardinals lead to five with 8:26 remaining in the quarter. Moran put the Cardinals up by six with an unassisted goal before Rubino netted his fourth goal of the game and the 100th of his career to give the Cardinals a 7-0 lead. Eberhardt closed out the first half by finishing off a Dalton Lutz pass to send the Cardinals into the break with an 8-0 lead. 

The Vikings (6-10, 1-5 CCIW) scored the first three goals of the second half to cut the Cardinal lead to five. However, The Cardinals would extend their lead back to eight as Joey D'Cunha found the back of the net twice while Eberhardt tallied the final goal of the third quarter. 

Gavin Rieger and Evan Watanabe connected for the Cardinals twelfth goal of the game with 11:15 remaining in the game before Dylan Andersen  would find the back of the net to put North Central up 13-3. After another Viking goal, Lutz and Samuel Russchenberg would find the back of the net to secure a 15-4 win over Augustana. 

Rubino led all scorers with four goals while Eberhardt netted three of his own. Illgen posted a team-high three assists and four points in the win. Trenton Herubin and Jake Paris led the defensive efforts with two caused turnovers each. Zach Kuyava went 15 of 17 (88%) from the face-off X while scooping up a team-high ten ground balls. Jake Allgood tallied four saves in the contest as he improves to 6-5 on the season. 

The Cardinals postseason run begins on Thursday, May 4 as they take on third-seeded Transylvania University at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium with a game time TBA. 

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