The Carthage College men's lacrosse team came out on top of a close match with Augustana on Saturday night at Art Keller Field, defeating the Vikings 11-10. A pair of early goals by the team's leader in points, Andrew Johnson, put Carthage (9-2, 3-1 CCIW) on top 2-0, before the visiting Vikings (6-5, 2-3 CCIW) evened the score. While Robert Dakan found Colin Poitras to retake the lead for the Firebirds, it was Augustana that stood in front by a score of 4-3 at the end of the first quarter. The two teams traded goals coming into the second period, before Noah Lindner, Johnson, and Michael Stell netted three unanswered. Two scores from Augustana just before halftime set the scoreboard even at seven. After two more goals from Lindner and Poitras got Carthage rolling in the second half, Augustana took advantage of a man-up opportunity to make it 9-8. After George Burchfield found the back of the net, the visitors would score two more to make it a 10-10 game to begin the fourth quarter. However, Poitras broke the defensive battle midway through the period, scoring the decisive goal to clinch the win for Carthage. The Firebirds will hit the road on Monday, April 26 to make up their postponed contest with North Central at 7 p.m. Head Coach David Neff "First, I would just like to say congratulations to JW and the men's volleyball program. What a great day for them and for the entire Carthage community! Wow, fun to watch." "We didn't have our best today, and were really flat from start to finish, but I guess it's to be somewhat expected with finals and graduation; we just weren't 100% invested in the game tonight. That being said, it's always great to get a win, especially on an important night when you recognize your seniors. It also says a lot to win when you just don't have your best. Tomorrow, we finish celebrating the seniors but we will need to get back on track Monday because we head on the road to play one of the most talented teams we have seen all year in NCC." Quick Facts Colin Poitras led the Firebirds with five points tonight, on two goals and three assists. The senior now has 204 career points, and is one of just four student-athletes to pass the 200-point threshold. At 52 points across 10 games played for Carthage, Andrew Johnson currently owns the program record for career points per game at 5.2. With 145 career ground balls, Liam O'Connor is now tied for the ninth-most in Carthage history.