NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Carthage College men's soccer team got back to their winning ways Saturday in their College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opener, defeating the Cardinals of North Central College, 2-1, in overtime.
 
The win sends the #19 Red Men to 8-3 on the season and 1-0 in the CCIW, while the Cardinals fall to 2-6-1 and 0-1 in the conference.
 
Despite dominating the stats with a 21-10 advantage in shots, 14-4 on target, and 11 corner kicks to North Central's four, Carthage found themselves still down trailing in the 65th minute after Chandler Olah put a free kick into the wall which deflected into the upper-90 for the first goal of the game.
 
""We love this!  We dominate the stat sheet and look attractive but are gracious about not putting balls in the net," said head men's soccer coach Steve Domin following the match.  "Everyone throws a ton of energy into opening conference matches.  Objectively, we had a little bit of a hangover in surrendering 3 goals in the bottom of the ninth against the University of Chicago in a game we wanted to get."
 
Carthage would then go on the offensive, rattling off shot after shot trying to find the equalizer.
 
Carthage's best chance came in the 67th minute when a Cardinal foul led to a Red Men penalty kick.  However, Sebastian Garcia guessed correctly and denied Austin Bitta.
 
The Red Men's next chances came in the 80th minute when Carthage lined up five straight corner kicks in the Cardinals end. 
 
Finally, on the fifth attempt, Kevin Mahoney connected on a shot that ricocheted off the post and a failed clearance by the defender marking the post gave the Red Men an own goal and the highly sought after equalizer in the 85th minute.
 
Carthage wasn't ready to settle there as Johnny Rimkus tried to end it in regulation with a header in the 88th minute but the Cardinals Sebastian Garcia made a save.
 
The match went into overtime where in the 99th minute Zach Schoffstall plated a ball over the Cardinals backline onto the foot of Austin Bitta who finessed a ball over the keeper for the sudden victory goal.
 
"I was really happy for Austin being able to score the game-winner after the keeper read him on a PK earlier in the game that probably seals the deal," noted Domin.  "Zach Schoffstall did a great job spreading the ball around all afternoon and he was able to skirt a ball over to Biita behind their backline giving Bitta the dangerous look at goal."
 
Brayan Arce Justiniano earned the win making three saves in the match.  Garcia took the loss despite 12 saves against the Red Men attack.
 
The Red Men return home for their next match as they play host to Wheaton College Wednesday, October 5th at 7:00 p.m.
 
""Obviously key players who didn't play against Chicago made a difference today.  Adrian Herrera and Jorge Triana had a mark on this game centrally, and as always Giles Phillips and spotting Eric Boese were keys to some backline heroics."