The Carthage College men's lacrosse team (15-3, 5-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) wrapped up its regular-season schedule on Saturday, April 25 with an 11-6 win over CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 12-4, 4-1 CCIW) at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.  With the victory, Carthage won the inaugural CCIW men's lacrosse title, along with the top seed in next week's conference tournament.
 
The Red Men will play host to fourth-seeded Elmhurst College (7-8) in a Wednesday, April 29 tournament-semifinal game, beginning at 8 p.m.  Second-seeded Augustana (Ill., 12-4) entertains third-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University (10-6) in Wednesday's other semifinal contest.
 
In the win over Augustana, Carthage took a 3-0 lead in the first period, led 6-2 at halftime and took a 9-3 lead into the final period.  Luke Seydel (Fr., San Diego, Calif./Westview) scored two goals with two assists and two ground balls.  John Salerno (Jr., Western Springs, Ill./La Grange-Lyons Township) had two goals and one assist, with Timothy Francis (Sr., Costa Mesa, Calif./Huntington Beach) and Dylan Harris (Fr., Carlsbad, Calif.) each scoring two goals.  Goalkeeper Ryan Smith (So., Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) collected five saves.  Nick Zielinski led the Vikings with two goals.

"I was really proud of our guys today," said Carthage coach David Neff.  "It's not only the culmination of a lot of hard work this season, but everything prior to the season as well.  This has been my best group in that regard.  I am especially happy for our four seniors.  They've have had this goal on their radar since they arrived as freshmen and have come up a little short each year, but this year they made it happen."