Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
Sept. 18, 2024 - In their first match up in five years, the North Central College men's soccer team downed Knox College 6-0 inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium to improve to 3-2-3 on the year.
 
The Cardinals opened up the scoring in the fifth minute as Will Mayer's pass connected with Jared Urueta and found the back of the net. Four shots later, the Cardinals earned a penalty kick. Luis Aviles netted his first career goal as a Cardinal in the 15th minute, putting North Central up by two. Only six minutes later, Urueta scored his second goal of the game, extending the Cardinals lead to three. In the 43rd minute of the match, Aiden Maloney would finish off a pass from Oliver Lakatos to tally his first collegiate goal and increase North Central's lead (4-0).
 
In the second half, North Central's offense continued to dominate. Tommaso Polidori passed the ball up the field to Mayer, who connected with Jack Bonavia, who found the back of the net (53:41). Polidori fired a strike to the front of the Prairie Fire's net with 20 minutes left of the game. With traffic in front of the net, Knox's goalkeeper, Mathieu Luke, could not keep the ball out of the net (80:52). Polidori's goal put away the Prairie Fire and secured the win for North Central.
 
The defense showed their dominance again, only allowing three shots on goal the entire game, keeping the ball on the Prairie Fire's half of the field. Starting for the first time in his career, Lucas Visser recorded two saves and his first win.
 
North Central is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 21, as they travel north to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The match will start at 7 p.m. inside the Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium in Platteville, Wis.
 
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