Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Results

Mar. 27, 2024 – The North Central College men's lacrosse team outlasted the University of Dubuque Spartans in a 15-12 fashion Wednesday evening, improving to their first 7-0 start since the program's inception.

Dubuque (5-3) was the first to the net after a spirited first three minutes, as Giovanni Silva set up Sam Todd with 11:28 to go. North Central (6-0) didn't take long to fire back as Charlie Snyder put one away 62 seconds later to tie the game. Luke Illgen kept the offense rolling assisting Jude Vitale to ease the Cardinals ahead, 2-1 with 7:43 left. Dubuque retook the initiative 77 seconds later with a goal from Aidan Culligan but Joey D'Cuhna responded with the final goal of the quarter to put the Cardinals back ahead 3-2.

North Central continued the momentum as a cross-checking penalty gave Snyder the opportunity for his second goal of the match. Dubuque wasted no time as within two minutes Todd found room again to put the Spartans within one with 12:19 left. Aidan Murphy's save at 11:32 set the Cardinal offense up for Snyder to sneak a shot past Nolan Nagy for his third goal of the night for a 5-3 lead. This sparked a two-goal run out of the Cardinals as Tom Eberhardt and Illgen with an assist from D'Cunha shot North Central up to 7-3 with 8:30 left. The following faceoff sent two scoring attempts Murphy's way as the Spartans' Aydan Rathsabandith found space to cut the lead within three. With under six minutes to go before halftime, the Cardinals gained three more goals between Snyder, Evan Watanabe, and Illgen only broken up by a solo goal from Dubuque's Todd to set the score at 10-5.

Eberhardt began the Cardinals' dominant third-period showing with a goal just 44 seconds in with Watanabe following up with another goal following a quick offensive relay from Zach Kuyava's faceoff win. With North Central firmly ahead, 12-5 Dubuque only found room with under 12 minutes to go as Rathsabandith tallied his second goal. A stalwart defensive effort on both ends of the field led to Illgen finding Rylan McQueary with 43 seconds left to put the Cardinals up 13-6 into the final period.

The fourth period saw North Central ease off the gas after a goal from Kadin Melin to set the Cardinals to their largest lead of the day, 14-6 with 11:38 to go. After a quick retaliation score from Todd, Murphy would substitute with Colton Porter with a seven-goal lead with nine minutes remaining. In the next six minutes, Dubuque scored three unanswered goals inching back within four between Todd and Silva. Ty Nagy found room to score the last Cardinal insurance goal with under three minutes left to put them back up by five. Spartans' Todd and Culligan each scored one more time to set the final score at 15-12.

In total, Snyder led the offensive with four goals while Illgen followed behind with two goals and two assists. On the defensive end, Rutger Rawlings led the team in caused turnovers with four while securing two groundballs. Murphy earned the win with 11 saves through 51 minutes in the net.

North Central continues its unbeaten run Saturday at noon facing Calvin University at Zuidema Field. Find access to the full schedule here.

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