WHITEWATER, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men revenged a tough overtime loss a season ago Thursday by defeating the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2-1, on the road a day after the game was originally postponed due to weather and field conditions.
 
Carthage dominated most of the match by outshooting Whitewater 25-15 and 10-7 on target forcing goalkeeper Brayan Arce Justiniano into a career-high six saves as he improved to 3-0 in his young career.
 
With the win #24 Carthage moves to 6-2 on the season, while dropping the Warhawks to 3-2-2.
 
The Red Men came out firing at Chris Lucatorto, peppering him with constent pressure in the opening 15 minutes and forcing him into six saves total in the half.
 
"It's always hard to win on the road against strong teams and for that I am pleased," said head men's soccer coach Steve Domin following the win.  "In the first half I really felt we could have turned this into a laugher.   Six shots on frame with just about complete possession almost worked against us being tied at half.  Their goalkeeper turned away opportunity after opportunity.  Even taking the loss he was the 'Man of the match'."
 
With Carthage unable to punch in a goal in the opening 30 minutes, Whitewater attempted to take advantage of their height off of set pieces in the Red Men back third. 
 
The Warhawks managed to get three redirections on target but Carthage's Brayan Arce Justiniano was able to tip each ball over the crossbar for a save.
 
Alexis Garcia had the Red Men's final opportunity of the first half as a ball fell to him on the back post but a sliding Warhawk defender poked it across the endline as time expired in the scoreless half.
 
It took just six minutes into the second half however for the Red Men to break the scoreless tie as Kevin Mahoney was taken down in the box after beating the Whitewater defender to the touchline.
 
Austin Bitta buried the ensuing penalty kick in the 51st minute to give the Red Men the much sought after 1-0 lead.
 
Things began to get chippie both ways from that moment on as fouls were coming in near pairs, with the Red Men finishing with 16 fouls against and the Warhawks with 12.  On top of that there were two yellow cards issued to Carthage and four to Whitewater as well as a red card following a high tackle on Carthage freshman back Matt Rojel.
 
"We started the second half much the same, and once we got the first goal it felt like we could really open it up," stated the head coach.  "Give Whitewater some credit though as they seemed to play harder after going down a man about half way through the second period.  I was rotating guys to get some minutes as we head to the stretch run of the season and their style, high and long, started to create some problems on a wet surface, which started to muddy up."
 
Up a man the Red Men were unable to add to the lead despite earning 15 corners in the match to the Warhawks seven. 
 
Carthage finally broke through and scored the eventual winner in the 89th minute as Leo Mendoza faked a shot to shake a defender then ripped a shot near post that was deflected into the upper 90 to go up 2-0.
 
"I felt our staff did a great job tonight.  C.J. Bachmann, Filip Dyminski and Jordan Innis made some fine adjustments and tonight it was Leo that answered the call.  I am proud and very happy for him.   Additionally, our middle three combination of Austin Bitta, Adrian Herrera and Alberto Eloyza were about as good as any middle three I have seen all year."
 
Whitewater didn't cave though, as a takedown in the box led to a penalty kick goal in the 90th minute.  It wasn't enough time though as the Red Men were able to run the final 15 seconds out off the restart to take the 2-1 win.
 
The Red Men return to Carthage for their next match, which falls on Carthage's 2016 Homecoming festivities.  The Red Men will take the field in the day's final action to play Silver Lake College at 7:00 p.m.  The Carthage College Men's Soccer Alumni game will be played at 10:00 a.m. Saturday as well.
 
"This has been a brutal schedule and the boys have responded… It doesn't get any easier though with two undefeated teams coming to town over the next week."