Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Mar. 29, 2025 – In the North Central College men's lacrosse program's first game at neighboring Naperville Central High School, Wyatt Hunt led the way in a narrow 9-8 victory, scoring a career high five goals as a freshman to down the Calvin University Knights.

Starting the match, Calvin (4-6) won the first faceoff to score in just over a minute with David Blackmon netting one past Aidan Murphy. The next ten minutes saw the North Central (6-2) defense settle in, fending off three shots, to lend the offense the opportunity to shoot 11 times. A costly penalty with three minutes to go on Ben Dilly gave Ty Nagy a man-up opportunity to score his ninth goal of the year to even up the score. The final two minutes had the Knights fire one past Murphy, but Hunt rattled off his first goal with help from Charlie Snyder to put the game at 2-2 before the end of the first period.

Calvin and North Central continued to hammer each other on defense until five minutes in, when Nagy sent another goal past Corgan Schaumburg to take the Cardinals' first and enduring lead. The Knights attempted to claw back with nine shots over the next seven minutes, but another score from Hunt took the North Central lead to 4-2. Cole Westphal broke free in the final 44 seconds to assist Snyder to his first goal of the match, with Calvin barely having enough time to put a score of their own with 15 seconds left to remain down by two into halftime.

Hunt didn't ease up coming out of halftime, soaring ahead 43 seconds into the period to net his third goal of the game. With the score tilted in the Cardinals' favor at 6-3, the defense locked in for the next seven minutes until Christian Coler was able to sneak past to bring Calvin back within two scores. Not wanting to give an inch, the Cardinal offense got back to work firing off two more goals from Hunt for his career high five goals in a single match to put the Cardinals firmly ahead at 8-4 into the final period.

The Knights wouldn't back down as they began to battle back within the first five minutes of action, with Jordan Warners inching one past Murphy. The North Central defense successfully kept the ball away from the net over the next five minutes, but another goal from Coler brought Calvin back within two scores. Feeling the pressure, Luke Paris notched a goal in the third minute to put the score back at a three-goal lead, 9-6.  With the clock winding under two minutes, Calvin's Braden Carpenter and Nate Hanson would each score within ten seconds of one another to put the Cardinals on notice. It would come down to Murphy in the final 30 seconds, where he fended off two shots as time expired to seal the game at 9-8 for the Cardinals' sixth victory of the year.

Offensively, Hunt led the way as a freshman with five goals while Nagy followed with two. Jake Paris and Alex Porter led the defense with three groundballs apiece while Tucker Hanson, Paris, and Dominic Rohrer each caused a turnover. Murphy sealed his sixth victory of the year through all 60 minutes earning 19 saves.

The Cardinals head back on the road, traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana, to face Transylvania University. Access the full schedule HERE.

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