CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Carthage College Red Men won their season opener on the west coast Saturday afternoon, defeating the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer College, 3-2.
 
Carthage opened with a strong first half showing that saw the Red Men put two goals into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead after the opening 45 minutes.
 
"We knew we were going to be highly competitive this year after our varsity team did really well in the first halves of all our scrimmages," said head coach Steve Domin.  "I may have made a mistake by sharing those minutes in the second halves of all our exhibitions however we have specific scripted minutes we want to follow-hurt our tank… We more or less limped out to California this year, bunch or injuries and roster pieces in flux, but we have some depth"
 
Ivan Esquivel opened the scoring in the tenth minute as he placed one inside the back post after Kevin Mahoney slid a pass from the left across the box into the stride of Esquivel for the breakaway goal.
 
Carthage doubled the lead late in the half when freshman Desmond Dean netted his first career goal in the 38th minute off an assist from Esquivel.
 
For the half, Carthage's defense dominated, holding Pomona-Pitzer without a shot in the opening 45 minutes.  Carthage finished the first half with four, including three on goal.
 
The second half looked as though the Red Men were going to cruise to victory as they controlled the pace of play for the opening 15-plus minutes until a fury of goals came.
 
The Sagehens scored two goals, exactly two minutes apart, to tie the match in the 65th minute and erasing the Red Men's comfortable lead.
 
"Today we just ran out of gas after 70 minutes or so, but we owned the much of the pitch.  Tough to do in that heat so early in preseason.  We need a touch of rest with some much time on the field the last week."
 
But the Red Men had the answer, as Carthage retook the lead two minutes after that with Jerry Patino's first goal of the season in the 67th minute to give Carthage the game-winner.
 
Andrew Ochoa picked up the win for the Red Men, making one save. 
 
The Red Men will return to action back in the Midwest next weekend, when Carthage travels to De Pere, Wisconsin for the 2018 St. Norbert College Tournament.  The Red Men will face St. Norbert on Friday at 5:00 p.m., followed by Lawrence University Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Final statistics are not yet available.