KENOSHA, WIS.—Weather forecasts provoked the Carthage College men's lacrosse team to play home games on rare back-to-back days, which ended with a Thursday-night bout against Beloit College. Four goals a apiece from
Brody Ilstrup and
Noah Lindner, combined with a perfect 18-18 clearing ratio helped the Red Men run past Beloit 18-4.
"I'm happy that we're 3-0 heading into De Pauw on Saturday," said Red Men graduate assistant coach Joe De Leo. "Offense was tuned-up a bit, and the defense has been firing on all cylinders. Goalie play has been great as well so I'm hoping we can carry that into Saturday and the spring break stretch."
Andy Szun, who notched a goal and three assists in the game, finished with 12 shots en route to a program-record 481 for his career. He surpassed
Danny Morse's previous school-record mark of 474.
The Red Men posted their second-straight 50+ shot game as they blistered the Buccaneers for 56. Beloit mustered just 15 shots in the contest. The Red Men also held a 48-31 edge in ground balls and won 16 face-offs compared to Beloit's 10. Four different Red Men took face-offs in the contest, but
Nick Driggs commanded the troops with an 8-of-12 figure while multi-sport athlete
Hayden Fischer won 4-of-7 for Carthage. The Red Men finished with nine caused turnovers, led by
Liam O'Connor's two.
The victory gives the Red Men a 3-0 record while Beloit begins their campaign 0-1.
Red Men 18, Beloit 4
Ilstrup notched a hat trick for Carthage in the first quarter, leading his team to a 6-1 cushion. Carthage peppered Beloit for a 19-5 edge in shots throughout the second quarter, where five different players contributed goals to push their lead to 11-2 at halftime. The third quarter was déjà vu from the first as Carthage outscored Beloit 6-1.
Danny Rossi and
Clayton Smith each notched their second career goals for the Red Men in the third frame, which propelled Carthage to a 17-3 lead heading into the final 10:00.
Derek Nedland notched his first career goal for Carthage with 7:50 left in the fourth, which made the score 18-4.
Sam Kotsonas, who made three saves within the opening 30:00, got the goalkeeping win for Carthage.
Kyle Guthrie relieved him in the third quarter, while
Zerik Rodriguez finished things in the fourth.
The Red Men will face DePauw University on Saturday, March 2 at 2:00 p.m. (ET).
