KENOSHA, Wis. – Carthage College men's soccer earned a hard-fought 2-2 draw Wednesday night at Art Keller Field against the number-19 team in the country, North Park University.
 
The draw keeps Carthage among the top of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin at 3-1-1 in the league and 9-5-2 overall. 
 
Carthage fell behind early as the Vikings struck with a goal in the third minute to put the Red Men down 1-0 as North Park took advantage of a defensive miscue.
 
"I didn't think we would start slow today after a couple good sessions leading into today's game," said Red Men head coach Steve Domin.  "However surrendering a goal in the first three minutes on an errant back pass again really put us on our heels for a handful of minutes."
 
But just as he has done so many times this season, Jamie Tausend stepped up and got the Red Men back in the match moments later.
 
First, in the 12th minute, Tausend served a long throw-in from the right sideline that Giles Phillips rose up and headed on target giving the NPU goalkeeper no chance of saving.  For Phillips it was his third-consecutive game with a goal giving him three on the season.
 
11 minutes later in the 23rd minute it was déjà vu all over again, as from the right sideline Tausend served another long throw-in which was met by Austin Bitta who directed it on goal and caught the under-side of the crossbar to cross the goalline giving the Red Men a 2-1 lead.  The goal was Bitta's sixth of the season and Tausend's fifth assist on the year. 
 
"Answering back fairly quickly was the key to the game, and then taking the lead for a good portion of the first half I felt we really started to get our rhythm back," stated the head coach.
 
Unfortunately, the lead would be short lived as North Park would string together a series of passes out of the back and find the equalizer in the 35th minute to tie it at 2-2.
 
While Carthage was outshot 13-6 in the first half and 25-17 overall, many of the Vikings' shots were low percentage shots coming from well outside the box and under high defensive pressure by the Carthage backline of Phillips, Tausend, Jake Bukiri and Shane Reilly.
 
It looked as though Carthage was going to regain the lead as the pace of play turned in favor of the Red Men but the go-ahead score was nowhere to be found.
 
Domin pointed out, "I think because we have play such a demanding schedule in many parts of the country it helped us win the fitness and energy battle, but you have to give a lot of credit to North Park as they are equally talented and dangerous at any moment."
 
Things looked as though they were going to turn against the Red Men, when in the third minute of overtime Ivan Chavez was sent off with his second yellow card of the match.
 
"Going down a man in the over-time periods I wasn't sure if we would continue to be mount attacks, but our young guys did not break and we had a number of solid chances to earn another results.  Expectations are always so high around here, I have to take a step back and let these new guys develop. And these are the games which build character."
 
Following a scoreless second half and first overtime period, the Red Men had their best chance to win the match with a golden goal as Jamie Tausend served in a corner kick that found Kevin Mahoney at the near a post but his header was pushed just inches over the crossbar. 
 
Goalkeeper Evan Bott settled in after the first goal making four saves against the final five shots face, including three in the second half.
 
Carthage will regroup and hit the road Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. match in Decatur, Illinois against Millikin University.