NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Carthage College men's soccer team bounced back in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin on Wednesday night in Naperville, Illinois, as the Red Men used a first half goal to top the North Central College Cardinals on the road, 1-0.
The win moves the Red Men to 7-7 overall and to 3-1 in the CCIW, while the loss drops the Cardinals to 8-4 on the year and to 3-2 in the league.
Typical CCIW soccer match which took on the feel of a Big Ten game," said head coach
Steve Domin after the win. "Both teams fighting for critical points in the middle of the race and these games late ultimately take on a kick-ball, frantic serving ping-pong match-feel… Always motivating to beat a top ten team in the region on the road and in our league, but it doesn't get any easier with our schedule and with our conference. When we are disciplined we are a really hard team to beat. When we are not, we are susceptible to inexperience."
Ivan Esquivel opened the scoring for the Red Men in the 24th minute as a misplayed clearance by the Cardinal defense on a Carthage cross found the foot of Esquivel at the top of the box and the junior forward ripped a low and hard shot that surprise the NCC goal keeper for the early 1-0 lead. The goal was Esquivel's team-leading fifth goal of the season.
The Red Men caught a huge break in the 73rd minute, as a failed clearance led to a steal by the North Central attack, but the ball rolled out of the reach of the Cardinals and safely into the hands of
Niko Mavrogiannis.
Despite constant pressure down the stretch and 12 shots faced, Mavrogiannis picked up his fourth clean sheet of the season courtesy of six saves. Aiding Mavrogiannis was his defense, as
Matt Rojel,
Alejandro Lopez,
Nicholas Messineo and
Kevin Reilly stood strong against wave after wave of attack by the Cardinals.
Domin added, "
Freddy Martinez,
Kevin Mahoney,
Jerry Patino and
Ivan Esquivel showed up today which is refreshing as we have been missing them due to injuries throughout this season. All of them have been hobbling along and finally starting to spring against the backlines. It's been a constant battle checking the injury list the morning after. Sure, we will have some more along the way and we will keep plugging guys in as needed."
The Red Men will return to Art Keller Field for Fall Family Weekend at Carthage College on Saturday, October 13th when the Red Men host Illinois Wesleyan University at 7:30 p.m. following football which kicks off at 1:00 p.m. and women's soccer which starts at 5:00 p.m.
