Box Score The Carthage College men's soccer team (14-6-0, 4-3-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), seeded third, lost to second-seeded North Park University (12-2-4, 5-0-2 CCIW), 3-2, on Wednesday, Oct. 31 in the semifinals of the CCIW Men's Soccer Tournament at Hedstrand Field at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago. 

In Wednesday's other semifinal contest, top-seeded and No. 16 Wheaton College (Ill., 15-3-2, 6-0-1) thumped fourth-seeded Illinois Wesleyan (11-6-0, 4-3-0 CCIW), 5-0, at Joe Bean Stadium in Wheaton, Ill.  Wheaton (Ill., 15-3-3) played North Park (12-2-5) to a 1-1 tie in double-overtime in the Saturday, Nov. 3 tournament-championship game in Wheaton, Ill.  The Thunder earned the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship, 4-1, on penalty kicks.
 
Carthage took an early 1-0 lead when Jordan Innis (Sr., Lake in the Hills, Ill./Crystal Lake-South) scored at 6:33, assisted by Jake Bukiri on a long  serving ball.  North Park tied things up on a goal by Jakob Aronsson at 19:14, assisted by Mike Herbst on a corner kick.  Jonas Pettersson put the Vikings up, 2-1, at 27:03 with a header goal on an errant clear by the defense, assisted by Markus Fodstad.  Carthage's Mike Heika (Jr., Inverness, Ill./Palatine-Fremd) scored on a free kick at 65:15 to tie the game, 2-2, which seemed to swing the momentum Carthage's way.  North Park went back up, 3-2, at 85:24 on a breakaway goal by Mike Herbst, assisted by Fredrik Greiff.

“Jordan Innis kind of bodied the goalkeeper on the game's first goal, and that's sort of his style,” said Carthage coach Steve Domin.  “He's one of our go-to guys, and I was excited for him.  The early goal was what we needed, I thought.  We've only given up 20 goals this year, and it seems like 80 percent of those were on corner kicks, and that's how North Park scored.  Their momentum after we scored early put us on our heels.  One of their two first-half goals was sort of a scrum-goal, but I guess it was their night.  We had the wind in the second half, and we got them a little tired.  Mike Heika's goal gave us new life, even though we weren't playing a very clean game.  I thought maybe we could get it done.  Their last goal, our backs just didn't get the ball out of the area.  I thought North Park was running out of gas, but they got the break and got the winning goal.  Give them credit—they have a good team.”
 
“I think we're a long shot for an NCAA berth now,” admitted Domin.  “The CCIW should get two teams in the tournament, and had we won tonight, we might have been one of those two.  We needed to get ahead of North Park in the regional rankings.  Those two mid-season losses to Augustana and Wheaton really hurt us.  We went 14-6 and made the conference tournament again—we had a good year.”

Since the CCIW launched its post-season tournament in 2002, Carthage has qualified for 10 of the 11 events and the last nine in a row thru 2012.  The Red Men reached and lost in the semifinals eight times but advanced to the championship game in 2008 and took Wheaton College (Ill.) to a 0-0 tie in double-overtime.  The Thunder received that year's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship, 4-3 on penalty kicks.  Carthage won both the regular-season title and the tournament championship in 2011.