BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men soccer squad used some late magic once again to defeat Illinois Wesleyan University at Neis Soccer Field Saturday night, as Austin Bitta netted the golden goal in the fourth minute of overtime to defeat the Titans, 2-1.
 
For Carthage, the win extends the Red Men's unbeaten streak to six games and winning streak to three in a row.  Overall, Carthage moves to 8-4-1 overall and 2-0 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while Illinois Wesleyan drops to 5-5-2 and 1-1 in conference.
 
"I have been in this league for over 20 years now and I couldn't be more proud of our conference." said head coach Steve Domin.  "It's a shame that one team has to lose, especially when everyone pours their souls into these games, but I think we played well enough to result on the road."
 
Carthage's Nick Vogel opened the scoring with his second goal of the season in the match connecting on a volley delivered by Kevin Mahoney to put the Red Men ahead, 1-0, in the 32nd minute.
 
Eight minutes later the Titans tied the match up on a a goal by Isaac Albracht off a corner kick scrum.
 
"Illinois Wesleyan is a very good team, and presented some issues for us in breaking the goal a couple more times, and it really started to wear on us after dominating the period" noted Domin.
 
Carthage's back four would then step up in the second half, turning away multiple scoring opportunities for the Titans as Giles Phillips, Jake Bukiri, Filip Dyminski and Jamie Tausend would not allow any quality opportunities against goalkeeper Evan Bott down the stretch.
 
"I was really impressed with Jake and Giles' ability to keep their one-two punch in front of them, and freshmen Benjamin Poder and Kevin Mahoney are playing like they have been here for years."
 
In overtime, following the back-and-forth first few minutes, Carthage dumped a ball from the left corner flag into the box where an unmanned Austin Bitta settled and beat the goalkeeper for the golden goal.  The goal was Bitta's fourth of the season and first game winner.
 
"I am proud of our staff's ability to manage the minutes particularly as we moved into overtime; we played a stretch of guys who cycled fortunately and in stride.  We have been planning on it now that we have morphed into these Cardiac Kids who bleed Carthage Red."
 
Carthage men's soccer returns to the pitch Wednesday, October 4th at Joe Bean Stadium in Wheaton, Illinois, as part of another doubleheader, with the Lady Reds kicking off at 4:30 p.m. and the Red Men at 7:00 p.m.