Recap: North Moves to the Top of the Leaderboard after Propelling Team North to 10-8 Win Over Team Moreno

With the result, Team North opens Week Four competition at 1-0, while Team Moreno drops to 0-1 in the league’s final week of the 2024 season.

North finished with five goals, including a two-point strike, for a six-point performance and claimed MVP 1 accolades and 207 leaderboard points. She has now earned at least 200 points in a game three times this season.

Attacker Andie Aldave took MVP 2 honors and 171 points towards the standings after scoring a pair of goals and grabbing two draw controls in Team North’s victory.

Attacker Erica Evans earned MVP 3 laurels after a career-high four goal performance. She scored four-straight markers through the end of the first quarter and into the second to finish the game with 99 points.

Attacker Kenzie Kent and midfielder Grace Griffin also pitched in a goal for Team North in the victory, while midfielder Marie McCool led the game with six draw controls.

Defensively for Team North, rookie defender Meghan Ball registered a career-high five caused turnovers, which is also the most by one player in the 2024 AU Pro Lacrosse season. Also, goalkeeper Kady Glynn pushed aside six shots in the win.

For Team Moreno, Evans’ four goals led the way offensively, while rookie midfielder Cassidy Weeks tagged on a pair of markers. Rookie attackers Sydni Black and Isabella Peterson each scored once in the loss.

Goalkeeper Taylor Moreno made nine saves in the loss.

KEY MOMENT

In a game of goal scoring runs, Team North opened the contest with four straight goals before Team Moreno responded with a 6-0 run and led 6-4 with just under nine minutes left in the third quarter. Team North battled back with four consecutive goals capped off by a two-point marker from North to take a 9-6 lead that Team North never relinquished. Team Moreno cut the lead down to 9-8, but North put the game away with her fifth goal of the game with 33 seconds left to secure the victory.

LEADERBOARD IMPACT

North takes over the top of the leaderboard after collecting 207 points and stands at 1,466 points, while attacker Sam Apuzzo falls to second with 1,312 points. Moreno remains in third place in the standings with 1,224 points.

GAME NOTES

• Teams are now 5-for-16 in captain’s challenges in the 2024 season … Team North initiated a captain’s challenge at the 3:30 mark of the fourth quarter to question if rookie attacker Sydni Black was in the crease on a goal … The call of the field was upheld and the goal stood.

• North scored her 40th goal of the 2024 AU Pro Lacrosse season at the 8:59 mark of the first quarter … She is the first player in league history to reach 40 goals in one season and now stands at 44 on the year.

• North also extended her goal scoring streak to 20 games … The last time she was held without a goal came on July 22, 2023 when she finished with two assists against Team Moreno.

• This is North’s third straight game with five or more goals following a five-goal outing on Monday and her league record eight-goal outburst on Sunday afternoon against Team Kennedy.

• Evans notched her first career four-goal game after tallying four scores in the first half of the contest … Evans’ previous AU Pro Lacrosse best was two goals, which she has accomplished five times.

• Aldave’s two goals marked her seventh career multi-goal performance … Her marker with 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter moved her season total to 10 goals.

• Team North was held scoreless in the second quarter of the game … It marked the 10th time this year a team was blanked through a full 10 minute quarter.

• Moreno finished with nine saves, which is only the second time this season she has not finished with 10 or more saves in a single contest … The only other time Moreno was held under 10 saves came on July 28 against Team Apuzzo when she also had nine.

• North moves to 3-1 as a team captain in her AU Pro Lacrosse career … Her only loss as a team captain came against Team Moreno in Week Three.

• North claims her ninth MVP 1 laurel and the 14th Game MVP honor in total … She has the second-most MVP 1 accolades in AU Pro Lacrosse history trailing only attacker Sam Apuzzo who has collected 17 top postgame honors.

• North’s two-point goal at the nine minute mark of the fourth quarter was her 18th career two-point marker and fifth of the season … She leads the all-time AU Pro Lacrosse charter ahead of Nicole Levy who scored 13 two-point goals.

• Evans picked up her first-ever Game MVP accolade with MVP 3 honors following her career-high four goals in Team Moreno’s defeat.

• Aldave garnered Game MVP laurels for the third time in her career and first of the 2024 season … She was named a Game MVP twice in the 2023 campaign.

GAME MVPS

• #1 – Charlotte North (Team North, +45)
• #2 – Andie Aldave (Team North, +30)
• #3 – Erica Evans (Team Moreno, +15)