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

Box Score

ALBION, Mich. (Apr. 5, 2023) - The North Central College men's lacrosse saw their three game winning streak disappear as they fell to Albion College 22-13 in their non-conference finale on Wednesday night at Alumni Stadium. 

The Britons (7-3) kicked off the scoring with 12:27 in the first quarter to give their home team an early 1-0 lead but 33 seconds later they extended the lead to two as Jace Conley snuck his shot past Jake Allgood. After a Briton penalty, the Cardinals (5-4) would respond as Nick Rubino found Tom Eberhardt for their first goal of the game before defenseman Trenton Herubin scored his fourth goal of the season to knot the game at two. With 1:20 remaining, Albion gave themselves a one goal lead but Joey D'Cunha scored the equalizer off a Luke Illgen assist. 

The Britons offense came out of the break firing on all cylinders, finding the back of the net three times to extend their lead to 6-3. However, another Albion penalty allowed the Cardinals to get within one as Jack Moran and Illgen found the back of the net within fourteen seconds of each other. The Britons would head into halftime with a 9-5 lead as they rattled off three unanswered goals. 

The scoring in the second half started quickly as Albion scored twice in the first minute of the third quarter to extend their lead to six but after yet another Briton penalty, Moran found the back of the net to bring the Cardinals within five. After two more Albion goals, Rylan McQueary scored an unassisted goal to bring the score to 13-7 in favor of the home team but the Britons would score six unanswered goals to end the quarter, extending their lead to 12. 

In the final quarter of the play, D'Cunha scored during a man-up as he finished off a Illgen pass to cut the deficit to eleven. Illgen and Moran would score two more goals for the Cardinals but the Britons would only extend their lead back to twelve with 7:14 remaining with two goals. The Cardinals would close out the game with three unanswered goals from D'Cunha, Moran and Rubino but would fall 22-13.  

Moran led the Cardinals with a season-high four goals while D'Cunha scored a season-high three goals. Illgen dished out a team-high three assists while finding the back of the net twice. Miles Rathell caused a team-high three caused turnovers while scooping up three ground balls. Jake Allgood fell to 3-4 on the season as he tallied three saves in the first half and Aidan Murphy made five saves. 

The Cardinals open College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Saturday as they take a short trip to Elmhurst University for a 1 pm matchup with the Bluejays. 

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