ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Carthage College women's lacrosse team saw their season come to an end Wednesday, May 4th, with a hard-fought defeat at the hands of the top-seeded Augustana College Vikings, 16-7, at Thorsen-Lucken Field in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament semifinal.
 
The defeat ends the Lady Reds' season at 10-6 overall after finishing the CCIW at 4-2, while the #1 seeded Vikings improve to 16-2 after going 6-0 in conference.
 
Following a tightly played first half that saw Carthage and Augustana each with 16 shots in the half and the Vikings with a slim 12-11 advantage on goal, Augustana was able to find the back of the net and jump out to a 9-4 lead at half.
 
2016 Newcomer of the Year Kara Vana opened the scoring in the match with her 42nd goal of the season giving the Lady Reds the early 1-0 lead in the match.  Augustana answered however with three goals of their own to gain their first two-goal lead of the game at 3-1.  A goal by all-conference CCIW first teamer Rachel Mussell would cut the deficit to 3-2, but a combination between CCIW Player of the Year, Anna Hopkin, and CCIW Defensive Player of the Year, Olivia Mayer, built back up the two-goal lead at 4-2.
 
Carthage and Augustana continued to exchange goals over then next six minutes Mussell added her second and Kendell Santin added her first to keep the match within one at 5-4 with 7:36 left in the opening half.  
 
A 4-0 run to end the half by the Vikings put the Lady Reds in a deep halftime hole, 9-4, after the first 30 minutes.
 
Unfortunately for the Lady Reds, the momentum wouldn't swing in Carthage's favor out of the locker room in the second half as Augustana continued to build on their first half run, eventually stretching it to 6-0 and giving the Vikings a 11-4 lead before Mussell completed her hat-trick to cut the Vikings' lead back to six at 11-5. 
 
A pair of late free-position goals by Santin and Maddie Griffin closed out the scoring for the Lady Reds, but it wasn't enough as Carthage fell 16-7.
 
The Lady Reds finished the game stuggleing to find their groove in the second half as Augustana controlled the pace of play with a 13-3 advantage in shots and a 9-3 edge on target.
 
The loss also means an end to the careers of Carthage's Maggie Potts, Taylor Sopron, Cody Tucker, Marissa Vavra and Elizabeth Wittenborg in the Lady Reds uniform as the seniors were honored this past Saturday. 
 
While the season comes to an end for the Lady Reds, the Vikings live to play Saturday where they will play Illinois Wesleyan University for the CCIW Tournament title.