North Central Nips CUW in Season Opener

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW women's lacrosse team opened the 2022 season on a wet and chilly Saturday morning. The Cardinals of North Central (Ill.) improve to 1-1 with the 16-5 victory.

The Black and Red started the day with the first two goals of the game.

Freshman Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) scored the first CUW goal of the young season off a pass from sophomore Andra Hansen (Seattle, Wash.).

North Central closed the first quarter with three goals and struck again in the second quarter to take a 6-1 lead.

Sophomore Anna Gong (Phoenix, Ariz.) fired a spicy shot past the North Central keeper with junior Grace Wilshire (Pittsburgh, Pa.) adding the assist.

Kmai McCardle scored the final Falcon goal of the first half on a free position shot.

The Cardinals took an 11-3 lead into halftime.

Two minutes into the third quarter, Andra Hansen found the back of the net with the assist credited to Anna Gong.

The red birds scored the next three goals.

Freshman Ava Karlov (Naperville, Ill.) collected her first collegiate goal with 37 seconds left in the third quarter after she bounced the ball past the goalie.

Defense reigned supreme in the fourth quarter with NCC scoring the lone goal.

North Central held a 37-16 advantage in shots on Saturday.

Freshman Madisen Myers (Rosemount, Minn.) had four saves in her first collegiate start. Freshman Sydney Dyba (Crown Point, Ind.) had eight saves in relief.

Sophomore Olivia Niego (La Grange, Ill.) led the flock with four shots, with Kami McCardle right behind with four.

Junior Colleen Gilligan (Colborne, Ont.) had eight of the 21 ground balls for the Falcons. She also caused four of the 17 turnovers for North Central.

The Falcons return to play on Saturday when they host Calvin. The Knights will close their Concordia tour after playing Concordia (Mich.) on Wednesday.