Box Score The Carthage College men's soccer team (7-2-0, 0-0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked fourth in the Sept. 18 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Central Region poll, defeated Wartburg College (2-5-1), 8-2, on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23 at the Wartburg Soccer Field in Waverly, Iowa.
 
Wartburg took an early, 1-0 lead on a goal by Azari Zubeen at 2:14.  Carthage tied the game at 27:02 on a goal by Erhan Caglayan (So., Schaumburg, Ill.), assisted by Mike Heika.  The Red Men took the lead, for good at 2-1, on a goal by Billy Hamilton (Jr., Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator), assisted by Stephen Korosis, at 37:58. 

Carthage scored a flurry of six goals in the second half, all within 26 minutes of each other.  Jordan Innis (Sr., Lake in the Hills, Ill./Crystal Lake-South) scored three times.  His first goal came at 49:36, assisted by both Greg Pignataro and Jake Bukiri.  The second was at 51:07, assisted by both Greg Pignataro and Frank Delgado, and the third was at 61:19 on a penalty kick.  Innis leads the Red Men with nine season goals. 
 
Drew Liogas (Sr., Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) scored at 60:35, assisted by Nenad Komljenovic and sandwiched around Innis' second and third goals.  The Knights' Jared Nelson scored at 67:56 to cut the Carthage lead to 6-2, but the Red Men answered with a goal by Stephen Korosis (Jr., Lindenhurst, Ill./Lake Villa-Lakes Community) on a corner kick, assisted by Cale Brown, at 68:13.  Carthage's final score came at 77:29 when Wartburg kicked the ball into its own goal.  The Red Men out-shot the Knights by a 22-15 margin.
 
“Coming into this game,” said Carthage coach Steve Domin, “I was afraid that we would still be mentally in Friday's St. Olaf loss, a game we had under control and let slip away.  Ironically and on tired legs, this road match started exactly that way in that we surrendered a goal in the first three minutes.  I had a couple players out of the lineup due to yellow cards.  Those players are game-changers, and we had to plow through a difficult part of our schedule without them.  It was important to do the right thing even if it hurts the results.  Going down a goal actually kicked us into gear.  Anytime a player can score a hat-trick. It's a special day, and Jordan Innis proved his worth.  Wartburg is a good team, but with our ability to get in the net, we were able to use the bench for some very needed minutes.” 

Carthage plays host to Robert Morris University-Lake County (1-3) on Friday night, Sept. 28 in a 7:30 p.m. game at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.