ELMHURST, Ill. – The Carthage College Lady Reds overcame an early two-goal deficit in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opener to defeat Elmhurst College Saturday, April 9th at Langhorst Field, 18-3.
 
The win moves Carthage to 7-3 on the season and start the 2016 CCIW season 1-0 with the decisive win, while dropping the Bluejays to 3-7 and 0-1 in the CCIW.
 
The Lady Reds dominated in nearly every statistical category of the game, besting Elmhurst in shots [44-13], shots on goal [33-10], clears [13-of-13 to 15-of-21], ground balls [32-17], and draws controlled [18-5], while only committing 16 turnovers to the Bluejays 19.
 
After getting off to a shaky start, allowing two goals in the first five minutes of the first half, Carthage dominated the rest of the way, led by junior middie Maddie Griffin who equaled her season-high with six goals in the game.
 
Facing the two-goal deficit, Carthage got goals from Mackenzie Day, Kara Vana and Kendell Santin to give the Lady Reds their first lead of the day at 3-2 with 19:07 remaining in the half.  Marissa Vavra and Griffin extended the lead to 5-2 before Elmhurst would get their third goal of the match to cut the Carthage lead to 5-3, however it would be the Bluejays' final of the match.
 
Carthage eventually closed the half on a 4-0 run behind second goals by Griffin, Vana and Santin, and Greigh Hoeft's first of the game to take a commanding 9-3 lead into the break.
 
The second half was all Carthage as the Lady Reds matched their first half output with nine goals to give the Lady Reds the 18-3 win, including four by Griffin, two by Rachel Mussell, and one each from Day, Hoeft, and Vavra.
 
Next up for Carthage, the Lady Reds return to the friendly confines of Art Keller Field for the first time in over a month to continue their CCIW season with a matchup against Carroll University Wednesday, April 13th at 5:00 PM.