Box Score Colorado College took an important step toward its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance by defeating Carthage College, 13-8, on Sunday afternoon at Washburn Field.

CC, which is competing against the Red Men for one of four Pool B births, dominated the second half and improved to 7-4.

"It was a huge game for us," head coach Sean Woods said. "That's one of the reasons we were a little tight in the first half. Carthage is a good Pool B team and beating them head-to-head, especially with some separation, is a huge step toward a tournament bid for us."

Austin Davie struck three times and set up a Tyler Borko tally during the second half when the Tigers outscored Carthage, 7-2. The junior attackman finished with a career-high seven points and tied his personal best of six goals set two weeks ago in the 16-13 win over Babson College.

"I've so much faith in Austin Davie," Woods said. "He's our spark plug. He's one of the most competitive guys I've ever coached. When he gets the ball on his stick and the commitment in his dodge, he won't be denied. I've never told him to slow down. He's having an All-American year."

The Red Men held one-goal leads three times during the first half, the last of which came when Andy Szun scored the third of his team-leading four goals with 4:59 to play in the second quarter.

CC knotted the score 40 seconds later when Borko struck for an extra-man tally when he caught a feed from sophomore attackman Robbie Stern and fired the ball past Carthage goaltender Ryan Smith in one motion.

Colorado College began to establish control when it scored three times during the first three minutes of the third quarter.

Senior midfielder Eric Neumeyer put the Tigers in front 1:18 into the second half with his second goal of the game, and then Davie scored twice in a span of 44 seconds to give CC a 9-6 cushion.

Jared Farrell's man-up tally trimmed the Red Men deficit by one, but Colorado College's Borko and freshman midfielder Tom Haller struck 19 seconds apart to give the Tigers an 11-7 cushion at the end of the third quarter.

CC took its first five-goal lead when Stern scored 11 seconds into the half, and after Szun added the last Carthage goal of the game, Davie closed out the scoring with 5:57 to play.

"In the second half, we focused on ourselves and our pace increased," Woods said. "We went on that nice run where we made hustle play after hustle play. That's when the scoreboard changed and we were able to get some separation. We kept that four-five goal barrier all the way to the end."

CC launched 58 shots, compared to 24 for the Red Men.

Colorado College won 18 of 24 faceoffs and recorded a 31-20 advantage in ground balls.

Freshman midfielder Parker Woo won 18 of 23 draws and finished with a team-high seven ground balls.

In addition to his two goals, Borko caused three turnovers and grabbed a pair of ground balls.

Carthage junior goaltender Ryan Smith made nine of his 11 saves during the first half.

"Their goaltender was really good in the first half," Woods said. "It was a combination of him seeing the ball really well and us missing our spots. In the second half, it was really nice to see our guys finish. It was nice to bounce back after a mediocre effort against Williams."

Colorado College returns to action on Friday, April 15, at the University of Dallas.