Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

WHEATON, Ill. (Oct. 30, 2024) – The North Central College women's soccer team earned their seventh straight victory in a 4-0 fashion over the Wheaton College Thunder, closing out the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season.

North Central (15-4, 7-1 CCIW) was the first to fire a shot on target just eighty seconds in as Madison DeVriendt forced the first save out of Elizabeth Netz in goal. Wheaton (6-10-1, 3-4-1 CCIW) failed to find a shooting opportunity before Kassandra Salviola forced another save out of Netz four minutes later.

The Thunder fired their first shot in the 6th minute, which was smothered by the Cardinal defense. Ten minutes later, Brooke Nelson broke free, passing to Elle Sutter for an early 1-0 lead. Wheaton again struggled to find meaningful offensive possession time as North Central ripped another unanswered five shots over the next eight minutes.

DeVriendt broke away in the 24th minute to assist Sutter to her second goal of the match to break the single-season record for points (63). With the score at 2-0, Gabriella Galvez kept the energy going, finding an open Salviola two minutes later to force a 3-0 lead. Over the remaining eighteen minutes, the Cardinals peppered the defense with four unanswered shots into halftime.

Entering the second half, North Central continued to outshoot Wheaton 5-1 over the first twenty minutes. The last shot of that effort was from Elle Sutter, which was blocked but shot again thirteen seconds later by DeVriendt for the final goal of the match.

Over the final twenty-two minutes of action, the Thunder put up three more shot attempts only two needing to be saved by Jordan Boyd in the final four minutes.

In total, the Cardinals outshot the Thunder 21-5 while sending eleven shots at goal. On defense, Olivia Mattison secured the net for seventy-five minutes with Boyd coming for fourteen minutes to tally the only two saves.

North Central begins the CCIW tournament as the second overall seed, hosting a semifinal round next Wednesday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. Access the CCIW tournament scheudle HERE.

Download the free North Central Cardinals app, available for iOS and Android devices, to receive up to the minute news, scores and updates on your favorite North Central teams. Click HERE for more information.