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

Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Apr. 8, 2023) - Kicking off College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play on the road, the North Central College men's lacrosse team stormed into Langhorst Field and knocked off the Elmhurst University Bluejays 17-11 on Saturday afternoon to notch their first conference win of the season. 

The Cardinals (6-4, 1-0 CCIW) jumped in front early as Tom Eberhardt found the back of the net for the first time just two minutes into the contest. After Elmhurst was penalized for a push, Joey D'Cunha made them pay as he fired one past the Bluejays goalkeeper to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Elmhurst would respond as Ethan Stepanek slipped his shot past Jake Allgood but Nick Rubino would find Eberhardt with 5:15 remaining to put the Cardinals back on top by two. The Cardinals and Bluejays went back and forth until North Central gave themselves a 6-3 lead as Jack Moran and Rylan McQueary found the back of the net to end the first quarter. 

Ryan Swank of Elmhurst kicked off the scoring in the second quarter with an unassisted goal but Luke Illgen responded with an unassisted goal to put the Cardinals back on top by three. A minute later, Illgen connected with Eberhardt to give the visitors an 8-4 lead. After another Elmhurst goal, Rubino scored the final goal of the half to give the Cardinals a 9-5 advantage heading into halftime. 

The Bluejays cut the lead to three just 20 seconds into the second half but the Cardinals scored three unanswered goals, two from Eberhardt and one from Rubino, to extend their lead to six with 8:58 remaining in the third. D'Cunha found the back of the net for the second time of the afternoon after a Bluejays goal but Elmhurst would strike back as Jake Grebe cut the lead to five to end the third quarter. 

The fourth quarter started with Illgen finding McQueary for the Cardinals 14th goal of the game but a minute later, Trenton Herubin extended their lead to 15-8 as the defenseman scored his fifth goal of the season. Elmhurst would respond with 10:34 to go as Chris Haycock finished off an Ethan Stepanek pass but D'Cunha and Eberhardt would find the back of the net for the final time to give them a 17-9 advantage. The Bluejays would tally two more goals in the last five minutes but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals left Langhorst Field with a 17-11 win. 

Eberhardt led all scorers with seven goals, a season-high, while D'Cunha scored three goals for the second-straight game and Rubino and Illgen led the team with two assists each. Zach Kuyava went 15-29 at the face-off circle for a 52% average on the day. Allgood tallied ten saves in the contest as he improved to 3-4 on the season. 

The Cardinals are idle until Saturday, April 15 as they travel to Lexington, Ky. for a conference  matchup with Transylvania University at 1 pm inside Pat Deacon Stadium. 

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