BEVERLY HILLS, MICH.—The 2019 season opener pitted the Carthage College men's lacrosse team at Albion College in a Sunday-afternoon affair. Four goals apiece from Ethan Flight and Brody Ilstrup powered the Red Men to a 15-10 victory over Britons.
 
The Red Men outshot Albion 47-34 in the contest while also holding advantages in ground balls (27-18) and caused turnovers (8-2). Ilstrup peppered the opposition for 13 shots while Flight followed with 11. The Red Men defense was all Joe Poremba, who registered a game-high three caused turnovers and led all non face-off men with four ground balls.
 
Griffin Cleary converted on 16-of-28 face-off attempts, and held Albion's primary option Tyler Vliek to a 9-of 17 figure.  Cleary also scooped a game-high 13 ground balls.
 
Freshman goalie Sam Kotsonas converted a complete-game victory in his first collegiate action, where he registered six saves. His counterpart Trevor McManus stopped 10 shots over 50:09 of action for the Britons.
 
The Red Men kick-off the 2019 campaign with a 1-0, 0-0 CCIW mark while Albion begins their season 0-1, 0-0 MIAA.
 
Red Men 15, Albion 10
 
Tanner Jones, who entered Sunday with just two goals over 20 career appearances, scored Carthage's first goal of the season with 13:37 left in the opening quarter to tie the game 1-1. Jones' goal sparked a Red Men 4-0 run to end the period en route to a 4-1 lead.
 
Ethan Flight powered Carthage with three second-quarter goals, where his team notched an 11-5 advantage in shots and took a 9-4 halftime lead. The Red Men doubled-up the Britons with a 12-6 lead in the third quarter before both teams played an evenly-matched fourth.
 
Carthage narrowly outshot Albion 13-12 in the fourth quarter while each team won four face-offs and tallied six ground balls in the frame that saw the Red Men lock a 15-10 win.
 
The Red Men will return to action on Saturday, February 23 at DePauw University for a 2:00 p.m. (ET) start time.