ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst University men's lacrosse team suffered an 11-17 loss to North Central College at Langhorst Field.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Tom Eberhardt and Joey D'Cuhna. Ethan Stepanek put the Bluejays on the board with his first goal of the contest with 7:37 left in the opening quarter.

Both squads went back-and-forth scoring for the remainder of the quarter, but the Cardinals held a 6-3 advantage over the Bluejays heading into the second period.

Ryan Swank netted the first goal of the second quarter to bring Elmhurst within two, 6-4, but North Central rattled off back-to-back goals to extend the lead back to four.

At the half, North Central led Elmhurst 9-5.

North Central (6-4/1-0 CCIW) outscored the Bluejays 8-6 in the second half in route to their first conference victory of the season.

Elmhurst (9-3/1-2 CCIW) was led by Stepanek who finished with four points off of two goals and two assists. Jake Grebe added in a pair of goals and an assist, while Eli Spence chipped in a goal and two assists in the loss. Brenden Crouse and Sante Dybowski each contributed two goals for the Bluejays as well. Tony Vazquez picked up six groundballs and won 17-of-31 faceoffs.

Eberhardt led the way for North Central with seven goals. Nick Rubino netted a pair of goals and dished out two assists, while D'Cuhna scored a hattrick and tallied an assist in the win. Rylan McQueary finished with two goals and an assist, while Zach Kuyava won 15-of-29 faceoffs and grabbed seven groundballs.

Jake Allgood earned the win in goal for North Central with 10 saves, while Noah Mickelson collected 16 saves in the loss for Elmhurst.

The Bluejays look to bounce back against Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday, April 15 at 1:00 p.m. at Langhorst Field.