Box Score No. 6 Denison defeated Carthage (Wis.) College 19-2 in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. The Big Red moves on to Saturday's second round at a time and place to be determined Thursday morning.
Winners of 15-straight entering the contest, Denison wasted little time asserting themselves against the Red Men. Alex Paulus made his first start of the season and scored the game's first two goals. Liam Rooney followed with a pair, giving DU a 4-0 lead with 2:20 to play in the first quarter. After a Carthage turnover with under a minute to play, Owen Armstrong made the Red Men pay with his 19th goal of the season with just eight seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Carthage's Tanner Thomas put his squad on the board in the opening minutes of the second quarter, but DU came right back when Eric Baumgardner scored his third goal of the season off a faceoff win.
Goals number seven and eight came from Blair Farinholt via Rooney and Will Donohue from Jake Waxter.
The Big Red held an 8-2 lead at the intermission and a 7-0 third quarter put the game out of reach.
Donohue and Fairnholt both posted hat tricks for Denison while Rooney paced the team in points with two goals and three assists. Paulus scored twice and Waxter finished with one goal and three assists. DU's remaining goals came from Baumgardner, Sam Fiedorek, Nick Bortolani, Justin DeMarchi, Chris Haimbaugh, John Reinhardt, Armstrong and Jack Thomas.
Baumgardner won 14-of-19 faceoffs and led the team with eight ground balls. Josh Happ and Reinhardt followed with four ground balls apiece.
Chris Thomas played the first three quarters in goal for Denison, posting nine saves. Clark Bullington played the fourth quarter and made one save. Carthage goalie Ryan Smith got the start and played the first half. He made nine saves while facing 17 shots.
Denison outshot Carthage 55-20. DU was 1-for-1 in extra-man and 16-for-16 when clearing. Carthage committed 19 turnovers to Denison's 13.
With the win, Big Red head coach Mike Caravana tied the legendary Tommy Thomsen with 255 career victories. A win on Saturday would move him into first place in career wins at DU.
