WHEATON, Ill. – The Carthage College men's soccer team used a pair of first half goals to secure their first win in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin of 2017 on Tuesday as the Red Men knocked off the Wheaton College Thunder at Wheaton, 2-1.
 
Snapping a two-game losing streak, the Red Men improve to 6-5-1 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW, while the Thunder fall to 0-2 in the league and 4-7-0 on the year.  The win is the third straight by the Red Men in the series and the second ever by the Red Men at Wheaton College, the other coming in 2007.
 
Carthage opened the game with a ton of pressure on the Wheaton backline that led to an onslaught of shots against Wheaton goalkeeper Hasten Biddlecome, including a pair of shots from Jerry Patino that required diving saves.
 
The pressure from the Red Men front eventually paid off as Ivan Esquivel pressured a Thunder back pass to Biddlecome to take it away from the keeper inside the six and tap it home for the opener in the 13th minute.
 
"Ivan and Jerry have really been doing some nice work in the front third the last few games and our rotation in the midfield is as good as it gets."

The Carthage pressure continued to be problematic to the Thunder defense and the Red Men made them pay in the 38th minute as a failed clear was played back into the box by Adrian Herrera to the head of Jeff Montemayor who layed it off to the back post for a half volley goal by Kevin Mahoney.

"Kevin Mahoney's goal was masterful.  He wheeled around and buried that pass from Montemayor that would make just about any sports highlight real.  If he gets hot we will be a really tough team to beat!"

Halftime adjustments by Wheaton made the second half a more back and forth contest however the Red Men continued to hold a 2-0 advantage late into the physical match that saw six total yellow cards handed out.

"It really was a tale of two halves," noted Domin.  "We put so much pressure on their backs this could have turned into a laugher early if we could have put one more on the board in the first half.  Credit to Wheaton, they kept it close, and threw everyone forward the last 20 minutes of the match and we were just playing for counters.  We still probably could have gotten one or two against the grain however."

Mahoney's goal proved to be difference as Wheaton got one back in the 88th minute off a corner that Paul Elliot knocked in to cut the Red Men lead to 2-1.  But Carthage turned away the final Thunder attacks late to secure the 2-1 win.
 
For the match, Carthage was outshot 15-13 but won the battle of quality chances with ten on goal to the Thunder's six.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Brayan Arce Justiniano picked up the win in the match, making five saves.

On the play of his backline Domin said, "Primo (Justiniano), and the backline bent but didn't break in a tough place to win."

Next up for Carthage, the Red Men will return to Art Keller Field for a non-conference match with Silver Lake College on Friday at 6:30 p.m.