NAPERVILLE, Ill. – A hot start and valiant late comeback wasn't enough for the Carthage College women's lacrosse team on Wednesday, as the Lady Reds season came to a close in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin semifinals at North Central College, 20-17.
 
With the loss, the Lady Reds season ends at 12-6 after clinching the number-three seed in the CCIW Tournament at 4-2.  The second seeded Cardinals improve to 16-2 and will have the top seeded Titans of Illinois Wesleyan University in the championship game on Saturday.
 
In her final game as a Lady Red, Rachel Mussell turned in the best game ever in women's lacrosse history, scoring nine goals to break the previous mark of eight, which was set by Lauren Hein in 2014.  Mussell's efficiency may have been even more impressive, scoring her nine goals on just ten shots.  The nine goals also give her 178 goals in her career to move into second all-time in program history and her 54 in 2018 is the fifth most by a Lady Red in a season.
 
The Lady Reds came out dominating in the first half, opening with on a 4-0 run, including three goals coming in their four shots including a pair by All-CCIW first team's Rachel Mussel.  After North Central got on the board for the first time with 15:46 remaining, India Soodan and Megan McNamara each scored their first to push the Lady Reds advantage to five at 6-1.
 
Maggie Allen was the story of the first half though for the Lady Reds, as the senior kept Carthage in the lead with eight saves in the opening 30 minutes.
 
North Central finally cut into the Lady Reds lead with three goals in the final ten minutes, including two off free position shots, in which North Central earned a 10-4 edge in the half.
 
Mussell completed the hat-trick with the first goal in favor of the Lady Reds out of the halftime break, but a pair from North Central cut the lead to one for the first time since the Lady Reds led 1-0 in the early going.
 
After Nicole Bowman and Jessie Gibson goals pushed the Lady Reds' lead to 9-6, the Cardinals went on a 4-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 10-9 with 21:02 remaining.
 
A pair of goals by the Rachel Mussell once again gave Carthage a one-goal lead at 11-10, but the Lady Reds had no defensive answer for the Cardinals, who went on a 7-2 run over a nine minute span before a lightning delay halted the game with 5:52 remaining with the Cardinals leading 17-13.
 
Following the resumption of play and trailing 20-14, Carthage went on a 3-0 run with two more goals from Mussell but the clock ran out on the Lady Reds after cutting the deficit to three.
 
Behind Mussell's historic night, Nicole Bowman had a hat-trick, Jessie Gibson had two and Megan McNamara, India Soodan and Elena Herman each scored once.  Megan McNamara and Emily Lima also added to their record-setting seasons, as McNamara had a pair of assists to finish the single-season program assists record at 48 and Emily Lima caused one turnover to finish with 36 on the year.