KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College men's lacrosse team wanted to dodge any concerns related to bus legs prior to their home match with Aurora University at Art Keller Field on Saturday night. The Red Men are coming off a pair of six-hour bus rides following a 5-4 loss to Birmingham-Southern on March 22, and a 15-7 victory over Hanover College on March 23.
 
Four goals from Andy Szun propelled Carthage, but it wasn't enough for them to hold a single lead in the game as Aurora came up on top 13-9.
 
The Red Men fall to 5-4, 1-0 CCIW while the Spartans improve to 7-1, 1-0 MLC.
 
Aurora University 13, Red Men 9
 
A balanced-Spartan attack propelled them to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter. Szun tallied the first two goals for the Red Men to narrow the Spartan lead to 4-2 with 12:13 left in the second quarter before the Spartans continued to pull away.
 
After the Spartans pushed their lead to 6-2 at the 10:27 mark of the second quarter, the Red Men mounted a comeback. Carthage goalkeeper Ryan Smith snagged a ground ball and tossed it to Dylan Harris across the field, who found Luke Seydel in front of the net. Seydel fired a shot to the back of the net to narrow the margin to 6-3 with 6:20 left in the second quarter.
 
After Aurora failed a clear attempt, Jarred Ferrell capitalized on a goal to narrow the Spartan lead to 6-4 at the 4:38 mark of the second quarter. The Spartans took a 7-4 lead into halftime.
 
The Spartans opened the third quarter with three goals in the first five minutes to push their lead to 10-4 before the Red Men stormed back within two. Szun scored two of the Red Men's four third-quarter goals to get them within the Spartans 10-8.
 
The Red Men got within one of the Spartans when Luke Seydel picked up a ground ball and converted on a goal at the 10:17 mark of the fourth quarter to make the score 10-9.
 
That was as close things got as Aurora closed the game's scoring with three goals to secure a 13-9 victory.
 
Aurora University outshot the Red Men 42-31 in the contest. Ryan Smith tallied 15 saves for the Red Men in a losing effort.
 
Carthage will return to action on Saturday, April 2 in Colorado Springs, Colo. against Williams College. Game time is slated for 12:00 p.m. (MT).