Contact: Tyler Bremner, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

April 26, 2025 – The North Central College women's lacrosse team fell narrowly 9-5 to their College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) rival, the Carthage College Firebirds, in their final regular-season matchup.

Starting off the match, North Central (9-6, 2-3 CCIW) came out swinging, scoring in the first six minutes as Anaise Kaufman linked up with Annelise Oster for her first goal of the match. Both defenses locked each other out for the next six minutes, it was only broken when Piper Lefevre broke through for Carthage's (12-3, 4-1 CCIW) first score of the game past Alyssa Rose. Lefevre did not let up, finding room after a costly penalty for a free-position goal to mark the Firebirds' first and enduring lead to end the period.

Carthage kept the offense rolling, scoring the first two goals five minutes in as Rosie Nolan and Lefevre each scored to mark a 4-1 lead over the Cardinals. Abby MacKenzie answered with her first goal of the match to bring the lead down to two with over nine minutes remaining in the half. North Central would not find another shot before Sofia Winterkorn fired one past Rose to push the lead back to three with six minutes to go. Over the last six minutes, the Cardinals only found room for three more shots to mark the score at 5-3 into halftime.

In the third period, both offenses simmered down, not finding any room to score until the final seven minutes when Nolan was awarded a free position shot to push the Firebird lead to four. Mackenzie didn't find room again until 61 seconds remained to make her 50th goal of the season and second of the game. Time expired in the period with only one more shot attempt each way, keeping the Cardinals down 6-3 into the final 15 minutes.

The final period saw Carthage score first, 41 seconds in from Bailey Koestel, but Oster answered 44 seconds later to keep the lead at three goals.  MacKenzie followed suit three minutes later to inch even closer at 7-5 with 11 minutes remaining. This was the last time the Cardinals found room past goalkeeper Xochit Delvale-Vera, as the Firebirds sent two insurance goals over the final seven minutes to seal the score at 9-5.

MacKenzie led the effort with three goals and one draw control while securing three groundballs and forcing one turnover. Rose fended off two scoring attempts through 60 minutes to keep the Cardinals' hopes alive.

North Central has earned its place in the CCIW Tournament Semifinals, where it will face the #1 seed Carroll University on Wednesday. Access the full tournament hub HERE.

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