Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Results

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Mar. 13, 2024) – The North Central College men's lacrosse team won their fifth straight match against the Kalamazoo College Hornets in a, 14-5 rout Wednesday afternoon.

Charlie Snyder opened the scoring for the Cardinals just under two minutes in, only to be answered by a Hornet goal 53 seconds later from Eli Routt. After a stout defensive effort by both teams for five minutes, Routt found another opportunity for the Hornets to set the score at, 2-1. North Central didn't stay down long when under five minutes to go, Luke Illgen found room to score followed by Snyder assisted by Rylan McQueary just 37 seconds later putting the Cardinals up, 3-2. Dylan Andersen with an assist from Jude Vitale sealed the scoring for North Central in the final 40 seconds of the first period.

The Cardinals began the second-period dominating possession with seven groundballs, finally finding room with a man-up goal from McQueary with Vitale's assistance five minutes in. It was another five minutes until McQueary snuck one in again, but McQueary wasn't done yet finding room again just over a minute later to put the Cardinals up, 7-2. The Hornets didn't stay quiet for long as both Logan Gillis and Cam Vangalder found room in the final three minutes to creep back within three to end the first half.

The third period saw North Central begin to pull away as Joey D'Cunha etched his name on the stat sheet five minutes and eight minutes in with two goals to lift the Cardinals ahead, 9-4. A stout defensive effort from the Hornets prevented another score for over six minutes under multiple man-down situations. It wasn't until 22 seconds were left on the clock that Snyder found room to capitalize on a man-up opportunity, setting the Cardinals up to their largest lead so far, 10-4.

North Central capitalized in the final 15 minutes of regulation, not waiting long to increase their lead with a relaying effort from Luke Paris to Andersen two minutes in to put the Cardinals up, 11-4. Just over 60 seconds later Kalamazoo found their last scoring action from a set up from Ronin Honda to Ryan Warezak but, ten seconds later Zach Kuyava found room for a pass to Illgen to set the Cardinals right back up, 12-5. With seven minutes left in the match, Leach Bennett found Ty Nagy to put the game further out of reach. The final North Central goal came in the final 75 seconds with Aidan Delzalzo getting Nagy his second goal of the game completing the rout, 14-5.

The Cardinal's offense was led by McQueary with three goals and one assist with Illgen also getting three goals. North Central's Kuyava and Snyder dominated the faceoffs with a collective 14 wins to the Hornets' nine. Tom Eberhardt and Jake Paris both led the team with six groundballs with Eberhardt causing two turnovers. On the goalkeeping side, Aidan Murphy fended off 14 shots in 56 minutes of play while Colton Porter saved two in four minutes.

North Central looks to continue its five-game winning streak against the Aurora University Spartans on Wednesday, March 20th. The match is set to begin at 4 p.m. at the Spartan Athletic Park. Find the full schedule here.

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