Naperville, Ill. - Centre Women's Soccer was looking to extend its unbeaten 2026 start to five straight. It was not meant to be as North Central scored in the 5th minute and never looked back in a 3-0 win, handing the Colonels their first loss of the campaign.
The early NCC goal set the tone for the day as the Cardinals controlled much of the ball and dominated the shot totals, 19-6 (7-1 on goal).
Claire Cavacini had Centre's only shot on goal in the 13th minute but was denied. In the 24th minute, Centre was called for a foul in the box that gave the Cardinals a penalty, which was converted for a 2-0 lead. At that point, Centre made a goalkeeper change as
Kaelin Labhart came on for her Centre debut. She stopped her first shot faced in the 29th minute, but just 57 seconds later, the Cardinals had the answer once more to extend their lead to 3-0 and would take that to halftime.
A hit crossbar in the 48th minute nearly gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead as Centre struggled to find opportunities. Labhart only needed to make a single save in the second half as the Cardinals defense proved too much for Centre on this day. Labhart stopped 2 of 3 shots in 65 minutes of play.
Centre will look to bounce back on Friday night as Denison comes to Amend Field starting at 7:00pm.
