March 19, 2016 - A string of four consecutive road games outside the Illinois borders came to an end for the Concordia-Chicago men's lacrosse team this afternoon after a 16-3 loss to Trine University in Angola, IN.

The Thunder took the early lead with two goals in the opening 75 seconds. CUC's defense settled down afterwards, however, holding Trine scoreless over nearly nine minutes. Noah Bachofen (Franklin, WI/H.S.) played a solid game in goal, making six saves in the first quarter. Before the quarter ended, though, the Thunder added two more goals to lead 4-0 after 15 minutes.

Early in the second, the Cougars received their first man-up opportunity and promptly capitalized. Jordan Loeffler (Orland Hills, IL/Sandburg) fed Cal Crawford (Stillwater, MN/Cretin-Derham Hall), and Crawford scored his team-leading seventh of the year to pull the Cougars within 4-1. However, the Thunder answered with six unanswered goals as they outshot the Cougars 19-4 in the second quarter and took a 10-1 lead into halftime.

Trine continued on a roll in the second half, scoring three more goals before CUC stopped the run in the final minute. Loeffler scored an unassisted tally for his fifth of the season, but that was answered with a Trine goal in the final five seconds of the quarter.

The Thunder scored their final two goals of the day in the fourth before the Cougars recorded the final tally with 5:31 remaining. The goal came from Alex Pankey (Elmwood Park, IL/H.S.), his first career goal. Kyle Stock (Orland Park, IL/Sandburg) picked up the assist, his first of 2016.

One more road game lies ahead of the Cougars (0-5) this week, although it will be within Illinois. CUC will open its Midwest Lacrosse Conference schedule on Wednesday at Aurora University. The Cougars will then return home on Saturday to host Hope College.