Contact: Sam Fretto, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu
DECATUR, Ill. (Oct. 15, 2025)- Utilizing three different goal scorers, the North Central College men's soccer team traveled to Decatur, Ill., for a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) midweek match and defeated Millikin University by a score of 3-2 at Lindsay M. Field. The Cardinals (7-1-5, 3-0-1 CCIW) remain undefeated in CCIW play with the win over the Big Blue (5-7-1, 1-3-1 CCIW).
Vincent Stanislao faced pressure early, picking up a pair of saves three minutes into the match. A shot from outside the 18-yard box forced Stanislao to come up and recover the ball. The second shot on goal came at 4:26, and Stanislao made the save to keep the Big Blue off the board early on.
North Central amped up their offensive attack at 7:18 with a shot by Jay Umana. Umana's first shot came from the penalty arc through Millikin defenders, but Millikin's Chase Mandra made the save. Umana fired again a minute later dead center, and Mandra collected the shot.
The opening goal of the game came at 30:28 from the foot of Morgan Kurseth, which marked his third goal in two games. A free kick taken by Aleks Duncevic allowed him to play the ball out wide, resulting in Kurseth coming across as he shot through the crowd of defenders to the left of the net. Duncevic assisted on his fifth goal of the season, as Kurseth now has four goals this year.
The equalizing goal came three minutes later as Bryce Davis of the Big Blue received a pass with space to maneuver. He took the ball upfield and shot to the top right of the net, just out of reach of a jumping Stanislao. The score became tied 1-1 at 33:15.
The Big Blue offense came out on the attack in the second half, rattling off a pair of shots on goal, both of which were saved by the Cardinals. At 55:18, Millikin's headed shot whipped by Stanislao, but the back line of North Central cleared the ball away. Seconds later, Stanislao collected his fifth save of the match.
The go-ahead goal was scored in the 65th minute as Griffin French recorded his sixth goal this season. French received a corner kick from Marco Costabile and jumped over the defenders to head the ball to the right side to make it 2-1. Costabile was credited with his eighth assist, which leads the CCIW.
In the 73rd minute, Costabile dribbled the ball through the Millikin defense and found Duncevic, who fired with his left foot to the right side to give the Cardinals a 3-1 advantage. The Big Blue added a second score in the waning moments of the match to bring the score to 3-2, but they would run out of time without a chance to even the score.
North Central outshot Millikin 26 to 14, with 16 shots on goal to 8 in favor of North Central. North Central's 12 corner kicks outpaced Millikin's 3. The Big Blue had more saves than the Cardinals, winning that battle 13 to 6. Duncevic led the Cardinals in points with three in the match, recording a goal and an assist.
The Cardinals return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18, when they travel to Kenosha, Wis., where they face Carthage College (1-8-2, 0-3-1 CCIW). Kickoff at Art Keller Field is set for 4 p.m.
