KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's soccer team entered the final stretch of their 2016 season at Elmhurst College on Wednesday evening. Playoff positioning and a four-game win streak was at stake for the Lady Reds in their bout with the Bluejays. A tale of two stories highlighted Wednesday's match as both teams were in the midst of different streaks.
 
The Bluejays were looking to dodge a four-game losing skid against Carthage. Their losing streak came on the heels of beginning the 2016 season with a 7-0-0 record. Elmhurst was also in pursuit of their first goal in the month of October.
 
The Lady Reds did what they needed to do to keep those streaks intact as they defeated Elmhurst College 2-0. Carthage improves to 9-5-0, 3-2-0 CCIW while the Bluejays fall to 8-6-0, 1-5-0 CCIW.
 
The win puts Carthage in a tie for fourth place with North Central College (Ill.) in the CCIW standings and widens their win streak to four games.
 
Lady Reds 2, Elmhurst College 0
 
The Lady Reds wasted no time playing the spoiler role on Elmhurst's home turf. Taylor Stenmark executed a free kick from the right side of the field in the seventh minute. Kayla McGuinness was in the perfect spot in the box as she registered a header to the back of the net to give the Lady Reds a 1-0 lead at the 6:26 mark of the game.
 
The Lady Reds and Bluejays were deadlocked at five shots apiece until goalkeeper Emily Furmanek took a hard landing after going up for a ball in the 36^th minute. Junior Kate Perry came in relief for Furmanek at that point.
 
Carthage widened their lead to 2-0 off a corner kick at the 42:42 mark of the game. Joanne Stanfa sailed the kick to about 15 yards in front of the net on the left side, where Samantha Sisto fired a shot to the back of the net 42:48 into the match.
 
Furmanek returned to goal for the Lady Reds to begin the second half. The freshman stopped all three shots faced to help Carthage hold onto a 2-0 victory. The Bluejays tallied a goal that was eventually waved off within the final five minutes of the contest.
 
The Lady Reds outshot the Bluejays 14-13, held a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal, and had a 5-3 lead in corner kicks.  
 
Carthage will return to action on Saturday, October 22 at Art Keller Field against second place Illinois Wesleyan University. Saturday's 5:00 p.m. game will be apart of the Family Weekend festivities.