NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Carthage College women's lacrosse team overcame a six-goal halftime deficit to stun North Central College on the road, as the Lady Reds topped the Cardinals, 13-12, in the regular season finale.
 
The win locks up the three-seed in the 2017 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament at 4-2 in the CCIW and 11-5 overall, while the Cardinals fall to 10-7 and 3-3 in the conference and will be the fourth seed in the tournament.
 
A pair of goals by Rachel Mussell and one from Mackenzie Day and Maddie Griffin kept things tight early, as the Lady Reds trailed 5-4 with ten minutes remaining in the first half.  However, the Cardinals jumped on Carthage for five goals over the final 7:53 of the half to take a 10-4 lead after the opening 30 minutes.
 
Things flipped in a major way in the second half for the Lady Reds beginning at the draw, which Carthage dominated in the second half with an 8-1 advantage. 
 
Carthage opened the second half on a 3-0 run with goals from Mussell, Nicole Bowman and Kendell Santin to get the game back withing reach at 10-7 with 19:00 remaining. 
 
The Cardinals responded with a pair of goals of their own to once again extend their lead to five with 13:14 left in regulation.
 
Then, Nicole Bowman's goal at 10:56 began an unbelievable comeback from the Lady Reds, who went scored four goals in 3:08, as Carthage won every draw to climb back to within one goal at 12-11 with 7:44 remaining.
 
Following a flurry of turnovers by both teams, the Lady Reds completed the comeback with 3:08 remaining as Nicole Bowman tied the game with her fourth goal of the game.
 
Carthage controlled the ensuing draw and after a shot off the crossbar by Bowman and a save off another shot by Mussell, Mussell scored the game winner with her team-high fifth goal coming with just 1:09 remaining in the game.
 
Along with the 8-1 advantage in draws in the second half, Carthage outshot North Central 15-7 in the half, with 14 of them being on target.
 
Maddie Griffin added a game-high three assists, while Griegh Hoeft and Mackenzie Day each had one.  Maggie Allen earned the win in goal for the Lady Reds as she made six saves in the victory.
 
As the three-seed in the upcoming CCIW Tournament, the Lady Reds will return to action on Wednesday, May 3rd as Carthage travels to number-two seed Illinois Wesleyan University for a 7:00 p.m. semifinal.