Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Results
 
Apr. 13, 2024 – The North Central College men's lacrosse team celebrated senior day trouncing their second College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) opponent, 17-9 forcing the seventh unanswered win against Carroll University.

The Pioneers (6-5) were the first to score as Luke Bridges and Nick White put Carroll up early in under seven minutes. Between the goals, a shot from Luke Bridges in the sixth minute of play marked Aidan Murphy's 150th save of the season breaking the program's single-season save record. This was followed up by Senior, Rylan McQueary marking the first Cardinal to the net to cut the lead within one with 6:23 remaining but, Zachary Szuba would fire back two minutes later to maintain the lead, 3-1. It didn't last long as Senior, Luke Illgen fired one past Jake Gehl just a minute later to notch North Central back within one to seal the period's scoring.

Szuba fired off again over 60 seconds into the second period to maintain the Carroll two-run lead for the last time in the match. On notice, the Cardinals fired off a goal from Luke Paris with a setup from McQueary with 13 minutes to go. The scoreboard fell silent for the next ten minutes of defensive effort until Senior, Tom Eberhardt sailed two successive goals past Gehl within ten seconds of each other, off a dominant faceoff showing from fellow Senior, Zach Kuyava. With North Central taking the lead 5-4, Illgen scored again with assistance from Evan Watanabe with 48 seconds left. Kuyava was not finished yet as he forced the faceoff to Dylan Andersen who took it down field under eight seconds to put the Cardinals up, 7-4 to end the period.

Coming out of halftime, North Central rocketed ahead just 33 seconds in as McQueary set up Paris again to spark a four-goal unanswered run. The goal was followed up by Illgen, Andersen, and McQueary within the first five minutes of action to lift the Cardinals to an 11-4 lead.  Carroll was not finished yet as Brady Conwell and Szuba each scored to inch back within five scores. As the defenses settled in, it was under a minute left that North Central's Eberhardt found room with 42 seconds left to score and McQueary snuck one in as well in the final second of the period to go back up, 13-6.

The final period saw a back-and-forth affair as Illgen scored twice in the first five minutes only broken up by Carroll's Luke Bridges. Szuba scored next which Charlie Snyder promptly responded to with an assist from Illgen with seven minutes to go as the Cardinals went up by double, 16-8. Eberhardt was the last Cardinal to score in under two minutes with a setup from Paris but, Josh Kovach snuck one past Murphy to set the final score at 17-9.

In total, the Senior class lifted the team to victory off a combined 11 goals, seven assists, 25 shots on goal, 19 groundballs, and nine caused turnovers. Murphy faced all sixty minutes in goal locking up 13 saves and netting himself the program's single-season record for saves marking his 162nd.

The Cardinals travel to face Carthage College in Kenosha Wisconsin on Saturday at Art Keller Field. Find access to the full schedule here.

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