The Aurora University men's lacrosse team saw a goal in the final seconds by North Central College send them to defeat as AU fell 15-4 on a rainy Wednesday afternoon at Spartan Athletic Park.


GAME SCORE: North Central College 15, Aurora University 14
LOCATION: Spartan Athletic Park - Montgomery, Illinois
RECORDS: Aurora University 4-4 overall ; North Central College 4-4 overall


- The Spartans jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals from Zach Bernstein, Ben Strub and Brody Macdonald.
- Spartan Mikail Byun got in on the scoring action with 4:13 left in the first quarter to put AU up 4-1.
- Macdonald scored his second of the quarter with 31 seconds left to push the AU lead to 5-2.
- NCC scored two times in the final 22 seconds to send the teams to the first quarter break with AU up 5-4.
- Early in the second, Macdonald collected the hat trick and strub scored his second of the day to put the Spartans up 7-4.
- After three NCC goals tied the game, AU answered with a pair of their own.
- Reilan Pura scored and then assisted on the third goal of the game from Ben Strub for a 9-7 AU advantage.
- The teams headed to halftime with AU leading 9-8.
- The second-half was a back and forth scoring affair with the teams trading leads throughout.
- Trailing 10-9, AU's Jimmy Gorecki scored back to back goals to push the Spartans back in front 11-10.
- The game would be tied 11-11 going to the fourth.
- Bernstein scored to start the quarter for a 12-11 AU lead.
- After NCC took a 13-12 lead, Strub scored his fourth of the day and added his fifth with 2:41 to play in the game to tie the score 14-14.
- In the final 2:41 of the game, both teams had numerous turnovers and a solid shot chance from Bernstein was stopped.
- With 4.9 seconds remaining on the clock, NCC scored with a shot that snuck inside the top left corner of the goal for a 15-14 lead and would be final score.


Points: Ben Strub (5), Reilan Pura and Brody Macdonald (3)
Goals: Ben Strub (5), Reilan Pura and Brody Macdonald (3)
Assists: Reilan Pura (2)
Ground balls: Luke Hill (5)
Caused Turnovers: Connor Hoeft and Mason Soucy (2)
Saves: Phillip Gianelle (17)


Next action for the Spartan men's lacrosse team comes on Saturday, April 2 when they travel to Illinois Wesleyan University. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. in Bloomington, Illinois.  Read Full Article