GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin men's lacrosse team welcomed the Cardinals of North Central to Zuidema Field for a non-conference matchup. After falling to North Central last season, the Knights got their revenge this year when they pulled out a scrappy 9-7 win over the Cardinals.
 
It was the Cardinals who drew first blood when they quickly scored in the first period to take the 1-0 lead. Freshman Hudson Thiemann (Plano, Tx./Plano Senior) answered for the Knights one minute later when he found the back of the net off an assist from fellow freshman Braylon Moore (Rockford, Mich./Rockford). North Central scored another goal with three minutes left in the first before Jordan Warners (Orange, Calif./Crean Lutheran) and Braden Carpenter (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) scored within forty seconds of each other to give the lead back to Calvin. Refusing to back down, the Cardinals netted one more goal before the buzzer and the first period ended with the teams locked at 3-3.
 
Most of the second period passed scoreless before Warners delivered back-to-back goals for the Knights with just under five minutes left on the clock. North Central found the back of the before the teams headed into halftime with Calvin holding a slim 5-4 lead.
 
Both teams scored two goals apiece in the third period and headed into the fourth with Calvin still holding a slim one goal lead. With ten minutes left in the game the Cardinal found a hole in the Knights defense and scored to tie the score at 7-7. However, a few minutes later Carpenter swung the momentum back in the Knights direction when he scored his second goal of the day. Warners added one more goal to his total and gave Calvin some breathing room late in the game as the Knights walked away with the 9-7 victory.
 
Calvin outshot North Central 37-36 while turnovers were abundant for both teams with the Knights recording 23 compared to the Cardinals 24.
 
Warner led the way for the Knight with five goals while Carpenter notched two. Thiemann and senior David Blackmon (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) each recorded a goal apiece. Moore finished the game with two assists while junior Drew Garrison (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) had a team high four caused turnovers. In goal, senior Soren Thiemann (Plano, Tx./Plano Senior) came up big for the Knights as he recorded nine saves.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "It was a tough gritty win against a team that was hungry for a win," said head coach Dave Hoger. "I think they battled well and took advantage of opportunities. I told our guys at the end of the game I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day. We have to keep battling and finding ways to win and we have another big test coming up next week. This is our last full week of practice in between games this week so we're excited to get back to work on Monday and get ready for Illinois Wesleyan."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Saturday, March 28th when they travel to Bloomington, Illinois to take on Illinois Wesleyan at 12 PM (CT).