Our Pioneers were home this weekend as they continued their conference play against North Central. The Pioneers are 2-0 in conference play after defeating Carroll and Carthage in last week's back to back. In today's matchup against North Central the Pioneers were not able to continue this win streak as the Pios would drop this game 7-13.    

This game started hot with scoring from both teams as Transylvania would strike first from senior Dalton Hubbs. Hubbs continues his insane 23 game streak with a goal after this game with his total career goals sitting at 99. After this goal both teams would trade goals until the end of the quarter, where it was tied 3-3. Our two other goals came first from Alex Madson who ran over his defender to put the ball in the back of the net as the late arrival continues grow and impact this team. The last goal of the quarter came from Ryan Geisler assisted by Tai Stormont.

The second quarter is where the game cranked up its intensity as North Central struck first sparking Tai Stormont to hear the next Pioneer goal unassisted. This was followed by Luke Stetter netting his 8th on the season. The Pioneers continued to switch in and out of their Zone and Man defenses, however couldn't hold off the cardinal attack ending the half 8-5.

The second half was much of the same as Transy would struggle to set up long offensive possessions even with Transylvania defenders playing their matchup's well. Sophomore Luke Plummer had a career high 2 caused turnovers as he had an impactful game, along with fellow close defender Ben Marcum who had 2 caused turnovers and 2 ground balls. It seemed that the Pioneers struggled with back cuts more than one on one matchups as most of the goals against came from quick passes to the crease then a shot.

The scoring this half was seldom, however there are always bright spots in goals as Luke Hinton scored his first career goal before the end of the 3rd quarter. The last goal for the Pioneers would be scored by Will Warner as he would earn his 52nd goal of his career and 12th of the season. 
After the game Head Coach Logan Otto had this to say:
"In the CCIW every game is a battle. We knew the returning champions would be playing at a high level. They showed tremendous efficiency on both sides of the ball and took advantage of our mistakes. We look forward to next week in order to right those mistakes."