Box Score
The Carthage College men's soccer team (11-6-2, 4-2-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) closed out its regular-season schedule on Sunday, Oct. 31 by blanking CCIW-opponent Illinois Wesleyan University (6-8-2, 3-3-1 CCIW), 1-0, at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.
With the win, the Red Men qualified for the CCIW Men's Soccer Tournament for the eighth time in nine years and the seventh season in a row. The win also lifted Carthage from fourth place to third, and the third-seeded Red Men will travel to Chicago on Wednesday night, Nov. 3 to play second-seeded North Park University (10-4-2, 4-1-2 CCIW) in a 7 p.m. semifinal game.
In the other semifinal contest on Wednesday night, top-seeded Wheaton College (Ill., 10-6-3, 7-0-0) will entertain fourth-seeded Augustana College (Ill., 8-10-1, 4-3-0). The highest-remaining seed after Wednesday's games plays host to the championship game on Saturday, Nov. 6.
In the Illinois Wesleyan game, Carthage's Rafal Zalewski (Jr., Schiller Park, Ill./Franklin Park-East Leyden) broke a scoreless tie with a second-period goal at 75:38.
"Illinois Wesleyan is certainly deserving of their fifth-place ranking in the Central Region,” said Carthage coach Steve Domin, “and they made it difficult for us to get the win. Too many people get caught up in records, as they play maybe as equally a difficult a schedule as we do. We were not as creative today as we would have liked, being a little banged up following Wednesday's North Park game. The game started very pedestrian like. It took us a while to get into the game with some speed, pace and intensity. But once we did, we were dangerous. The game wasn't without some controversy, as two Carthage players got blood on their uniforms and had to leave during the first half. Rafal Zalewski, who scored the game-winning goal, had to enter the game with a fresh uniform. Illinois Wesleyan coach's pointed out the clerical error and was good about continuing in the spirit of the game and realizing that Rafal was not an illegal player.
"Looking back on the year," says Domin, "we felt we could challenge for the league title. But in a hyper-competitive league, losing an early game to Wheaton College made us reevaluate our goals. Playing in any league with an early loss is always a challenge, but I'm proud that we have finished in the top-tier of the conference again. We get to keep playing after the regular season, and for that, I am truly happy for our seniors and our staff.”
