Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
Northfield, Minn. (Sept. 17, 2023) - The North Central College men's soccer team entered the game on Sunday afternoon looking to continue their six-game win streak. After fighting hard for 90 minutes the Cardinals could not get the ball into the back of the Knights net resulting in their first loss of the season. 
 
Carleton started the action in the third minute of the game when Justin Crawmer shot the ball to the bottom right of the net but Cardinal's goalkeeper, Riley Johnson, made the stop. 
 
After two fouls and a yellow card given to the Cardinals, it was Matteo Innocenti who fired a shot to the center of the goal but the Knights goalkeeper, Daniel Linder, kept the ball out of the net. In the 15th minute of the game, Carleton's Ben Pennell found himself past his defender allowing him to take a shot down the middle, but Johnson stopped the shot with ease. The rest of the half was a back-and-forth stalemate between the two teams. 
 
The Knights held the momentum early into the second half. Carleton's Jonathan Vonderlage fired the ball to the center of the net 30 seconds into the start of the second, but Johnson was ready for the shot and made the stop. 
 
Seven minutes later the Knights got the ball, and Crawmer passed the ball to Pennell. Pennell found himself space and fired a shot right out of the reach of Johnson. With Carleton leading the game 1-0, the Cardinals became grittier, trying to get the ball from the Knights, but ultimately led to some foul trouble with the Cardinals recieving four foul and a yellow card. 
 
In the 75th minute, Innocenti took one last shot on Linder but was not able to get it past the goalkeeper. With time ticking down the Cardinals were not able to create enough momentum to overpower the Knights. 
 
North Central is back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 20, as they take on Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Ill. at 4:30 p.m. 

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