Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
ST. PETER, Minn. (Nov. 16, 2024) - After remaining scoreless through regulation play and overtime, the North Central College men's soccer team fell to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. A heartbreaking penalty-kick shootout ended their run in the NCAA Tournament late Saturday afternoon.
 
With back-and-forth play in the first half, there weren't many chances for either team on net. Joris Rijnja had an opportunity in the 13th minute, but his shot went over the top right of the net. Eight minutes later, the Pioneers' Alester Dawson found the space to fire the ball to the bottom of the Cardinal net, but Daniel Szalai made his first save of the contest. In the final minute of the half, Will Mayer sent a strike to the bottom right of the net, except Seth Aiken made the save.
 
Coming out of the half, both teams were energized and motivated. Four minutes passed without a shot on goal until Sebastian Carranza sent the ball to the net. Szalai stopped the shot. The Cardinals took shots, but none were able to make it to the Pioneers' net. In the 78th minute, Carranza hurled the ball toward the bottom left of the net, and Szalai again made the save. As the final horn rang, the score was still deadlocked at 0-0 to send the teams into overtime.
 
The two teams' defenses continued to battle in overtime. In the first 10 minutes, Carranza was the only player who found an opportunity to score; however, his shot was sent to the right of the net. The Pioneers had two opportunities in the 104th and 106th minutes, but both were off-target. After 110 minutes, the game was still tied at 0-0, which sent the game into a penalty-kick shootout.
 
The UW-Platteville offense was the first to take a shot on goal, with Carranza firing the ball into the left side of the net. Then Rijnja opened for the Cardinals, sending the ball out of Aiken's reach. The Pioneers would make their second shot, but then both teams missed their following attempts. North Central missed their third attempt before Danny Gutzwiller made his shot for the Pioneers. Jared Urueta made the Cardinal's fourth attempt, but the Pioneers won the game with Timi Usikalu firing the ball into the left side of the net.
 
North Central ended the season as the 2024 CCIW Tournament Champions and made their fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Cardinals earned a record of 10-5-6 on the season and will have to say goodbye to seven seniors.
 
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