St. Bonifacius, MN --Wednesday, North Central University (NCU) men's soccer returned to Crown College for a North Region Championship re-match with the Crown College (CC) Polars. In last year's championship meeting, the Rams suffered a tragic loss in a penalty kick shootout. This season, NCU had been defeated in both meetings, losing 3-0 and 5-1. Tonight, the Rams had a promising start to the match as they were out-shooting the Polars early on and appeared to be building momentum. A costly red card would put NCU down a man for 65+ minutes and Crown took advantage, ultimately winning by a score of 5-2 and re-claiming their title. 

NCU's Peyton Carselowey began the first half of the match by holding off Crown's three initial shot attempts at the Rams goal. However, NCU's defensive efforts fell short in the 7th minute as Crown took an early 1-0 lead. North Central had a strong possession following the goal, keeping the ball in control for ten minutes, with five strong shot attempts at the opponent's goal. But North Central lost control of the possession after a small brawl broke out between the Rams and the Polars. NCU's leading goal scorer would be ejected from the game in the 22nd minute due to a red card, putting the Rams down a man for the rest of the game. Not long after, Crown struck again in the 25th minute after a corner kick, doubling their lead to 2-0. Several substitutions later, the first half came to a close with a score of 2-0 going into the halftime break.

Returning from the half, the Rams put in several fresh legs to get the second 45 minutes underway. North Central gained some momentum after the break, as NCU's Ulrich Mgovo directed the ball to the net, scoring his 5th goal of the season off an assist from Santiago Grams. With one point on the board for North Central, Crown responded with two additional goals within the next five minutes. This brought the score to 4-1, as Crown took the advantage. As NCU began to put some offensive moves together, Crown struck once more to make the score 5-1. Desperate, the Rams pulled together one final goal by Isaac Hinkle in the 88th minute of the match, but ultimately finished with a score of 5-2.

Looking Ahead:

This will conclude the 2024 men's soccer season for North Central University. The Rams finish the season with a 7-13-1 record. 

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on men's soccer and all things NCU Athletics.