Sept. 19, 2018 - Tonight's match between the men's teams of Concordia University Chicago and Benedictine University marked the beginning of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, After a rugged first half, the Cougars came back in the second half and appeared poised to steal a road victory. However, a couple of cautions in the final 15 minutes turned the tide, and it was the Eagles that walked out of the Sports Complex in Lisle with a 3-1 victory.

The Eagles had the better of the first half, outshooting the Cougars 7-2. Benedictine put just one of those seven shots on goal, but they made it count in the 22nd minute. The sequence began with a Benedictine goal kick, and the ball eventually came to Erik Stammer who beat Jose Retana for his fourth goal of the season. The first half would end 1-0 with BenU keeper Shawn Chervets making just one save off a shot from Ryan Kuhlman.

The Cougars came out for the second half with increased intensity and needed less than a minute to erase the Eagles' lead. Gerardo Medina fired a shot that beat Chervets but caromed off the post. However, CUC's Peter Munro was first to the loose bll, and  the native of Liverpool, England made no mistake as he fired in the rebound to give the Cougars a fresh start, Suddenly, Concordia-Chicago was forced to play a man down, and Benedictine capitalized slightly over a minute later as Rogelio Dellatorre knocked in a cross after a rebound for a 2-1 lead.

In the 83rd minute, the home team added an insurance goal as CUC keeper Retana was shown the yellow card. While this card did not bring an expulsion with it, the foul was in the box and created a penalty kick situation. Elber Haro promptly converted from the spot, and the Eagles had enough to finish out the NACC-opening victory.

Benedictine finished with a 13-8 edge in shots. Retana was called upon to make two saves while Chervets was credited with three. The game was a chippy affair with a total of 30 fouls and seven yellow cards between the two long-time rivals.

Concordia-Chicago (1-3, 0-1 NACC) will return to action on Saturday when they host Lakeland University at Concordia Stadium. The game will begin 30 minutes after the 2:00 women's contest.