The Carthage College men's soccer team (5-4-1, 1-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) opened its CCIW-schedule on Saturday, Sept. 25 by knocking off defending-conference-champion and pre-season favorite Elmhurst College (5-4, 0-1 CCIW), 4-3, at Langhorst Field in Elmhurst, Ill. The Bluejays were ranked fourth in the Sept. 21 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Central Regional poll.
The Red Men, who had scored just nine goals in their previous nine games, scored three of their four goals in a flurry in the first 13 minutes of the contest against the Bluejays. Aleks Urosevic (Jr., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) struck first with an unassisted goal at 7:45 off a deflection. After Elmhurst knotted the score, 1-1, on a Jon Brehm goal at 8:44, Carthage took the lead to stay with a header goal off a free kick by Jordan Baker (Jr., Lisle, Ill./Naperville-North), assisted by Tyler Peterson at 9:25.
Danny Diaz (Sr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey) scored at 13:00, assisted by Tyler Cortez to put the Red Men up, 3-1. The Bluejays' Randy Warren followed with a goal at 15:27 to shave the lead to 3-2, but the Red Men's Jordan Innis (So., Lake in the Hills, Ill./Crystal Lake-South) answered with a redirect goal off a free kick, assisted by Peterson, at 29:41 to put Carthage back up by two, 4-2. That's the way things stayed until Brehm scored a second goal at 71:08 to make it a 4-3 game, closing out the scoring. Red Men goalkeeper Aaron Dirck (Jr., East Moline, Ill./United Township) collected five saves.
“This was another classic Carthage versus Elmhurst battle,” said Red Men coach
Steve Domin. “Elmhurst was picked to win the league and ranked fourth in the region, so this was an outstanding road win for us. Early on, it looked like we might win a laugher, but nobody in this league is going to win that easily, especially on the road. Tyler Peterson played wonderfully with two assists, and our defense withstood a ton of pressure the last 15 minutes when Elmhurst throw every player forward. It's great way to start the race, but you are only as good as your last game.”
Carthage travels to Bensenville, Ill., on Wednesday, Sept. 29 to play non-conference opponent Robert Morris University (Ill.) in a 6 p.m. game at the Redmond Athletic Complex.
