CHICAGO, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men earned their signature win to date of the 2018 season, going on the road and defeating the #2 University of Chicago Maroons, 1-0.
 
The win moves the Red Men to 9-7 on the season, while Chicago suffers their second loss of the year and drops to 12-2-1.

"I think playing the schedule we do makes it really just another game, but admittedly, it's hard not to try and over plan for the nation's best, and hide that there are extra emotions on the line," said head coach Steve Domin after the win.  "Chicago is just such a balanced team with so many weapons… It's interesting that we scored across the grain.  I felt we owned good chunks of the first half, had some critical moments to get a couple goals behind organized pressure, but couldn't punch any in.  The second half seemed to start much the same as the first, becoming a little more back-and-forth until Jeff hit the pill of the year.   Highlight real worthy."
 
The Red Men had a 5-2 edge in shots on goal in the first half with Carthage's best chance coming when Ivan Esquivel got to the touchline and a pair of shots from inside the six were blocked before the Maroons were eventually able to clear.  Alejandro Lopez also put forth a strong effort on goal, as the defender ripped a shot from 25 yards out that was saved by a diving Chicago keeper.
 
Niko Mavrogiannis kept it tied through the first half with a pair of saves in the opening 45 minutes, including diving save to push the ball around the post and shutdown the Maroons' best chance of the half.
Mavrogiannis was saved by his post in the opening minutes of the second half, as a volley from across the face of the goal beat Niko but bounced off the far post and directly back to the Carthage goalkeeper.
 
The scoreless tie was finally broken in the 66th minute, as Jeff Montemayor hit a volley from 20 yards out off a failed clearance that found the side-netting for the 1-0 lead and his third goal of the season.
 
The Maroons turned up the pressure the rest of the way and the Red Men never broke down in the back as Mavrogiannis finished with his sixth clean sheet of the year behind four saves in the win.  The back line played a pivotal roll as well as Nicholas Messineo, Matt Rojel, Alejandro Lopez and Kevin Reilly limited the Maroons to only being able to put two of their 11 second half shots on target.

Domin added, "After the goal, ironically, they started selling out more and more and with 15 minutes left they sent both outside backs forward with no fear of defending.  It's fairly normal to see but it was working in waves. Niko, the back line and our midfielders were there to mop up the traffic and play a little kickball late."
 
The Red Men will return to Art Keller Field for their next match on Saturday, October 20th.   The Red Men will conclude the Art Keller Field triple header at 7:30 p.m. against Millikin.  Prior to the match the Red Men will honor their upperclassmen with their Senior Day festivities.

"We don't have much time to feel good about this.  With conference and Senior Day coming up, we have to ready for the true stretch run."