Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant
 
Results
 
Apr. 11, 2024 – The North Central College men's lacrosse team faced the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans for their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) matchup, finding themselves outpaced late, 16-10.

Coming into the match, North Central (8-1) looked to get revenge from last season's narrow double overtime loss to Illinois Wesleyan (7-3, 1-0 CCIW). Entering the first period, the Cardinals found themselves down early after Noah Dretzka put away two goals within the first five minutes of action. North Central rallied back over the next two minutes as Zach Kuyava and Rylan McQueary connected with Luke Illgen to notch two and Tom Eberhardt to sneak one past Colin Tervo. The Titans continued to hammer Aidan Murphy but came up short marking the first 15 minutes of competition at 3-2.

The Cardinals' only lead did not last long into the second period as Gage Black found room to tie the score with 12:45 to go. North Central clamped down for the next nine minutes until Sam Weinberg scored twice in under thirty seconds with Ike Eastburn following suit another thirty seconds later. With the score firmly at 6-3, the Cardinals found one more opportunity with 12 seconds remaining as Joey D'Cunha connected with Eberhardt to inch back within two.

Entering the third period, McQueary amped the pace up for the offense, finding room for a goal just 60 seconds in with a setup from Illgen. The Titans fired back just 44 seconds later as Black connected with Sam Weinberg for a 7-5 lead. McQueary again found room under a minute later as Charlie Snyder set him up to ease the Cardinals back within one. However, this sparked a run out of Illinois Wesleyan sharing a three-goal run between Black, Eastburn, and Nick Horrocks to push them ahead 10-6 with 6:14 left. Snyder and Eberhardt each answered with a goal to trim the lead by two but with under three minutes to go, Black would take the Titans back ahead 11-8.

The Titans came out swinging in the fourth period as Zo Lombardo rocketed ahead for a goal within the first 16 seconds. Weinberg and Trystan Seeley followed suit over the next eight minutes to put Illinois Wesleyan firmly ahead by six. North Central would answer with a goal from Eberhardt but, Eastburn and Seeley scored two more insurance goals only answered by Kuyava in the final 70 seconds to seal the score at, 16-10.

In total, Eberhardt led the team in goals with four and McQueary followed behind with two goals and two assists. On defense, McQueary led with two caused turnovers and one groundball followed by Jake Paris with one caused turnover and three groundballs. In the net, Aidan Murphy fended off 23 scoring attempts in all 60 minutes.

North Central continues hosting Saturday celebrating Senior Day against Carroll University at 2 p.m. Find access to the full schedule here.

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