HOLLAND, Mich. – The Carthage College men's soccer team dropped a heated non-conference match on Wednesday evening, falling to #23 Hope College in Holland, Michigan, 1-0.
The third-straight defeat for the Red Men, the first such streak of its kind since 2015 for Carthage, drops them below .500 for the first time this season and fall to 3-4 on the year, while Hope, the region's fourth-ranked team, improve to 8-0-0 with the win.
"I have completely buried this team with travel and competition," said head coach
Steve Domin after the game. "Clearly, we can play with all these teams, but not getting the results is starting to frustrate. This is on me. I know everyone wants to point at the injuries and the grind, but we need to put the ball in the net… I do really like the way we are competing being down, but we have to do it for a full match. This is new territory for this group."
The Red Men and Flying Dutchmen played to a 0-0 tie through the first half, with Carthage owning an 8-4 advantage in total shots but an even 3-3 on target went unrewarded for either team.
Unfortunately, Hope was able to break the scoreless draw early in the second half, as Hope managed to break through the Red Men midfield and defense and get a clean look at goal and beat a diving
Niko Mavrogiannis for the lone goal of the match in the 49th minute.
Mavrogiannis and the Red Men defense were up to the task the rest of the match, as he and his defense consisting of
Matt Rojel,
Nicholas Messineo,
Alexis Garcia,
Alejandro Lopez,
David Snooks and
Adrian Herrera turned away a number of counter attacks over the last 40-plus minutes to keep the game in reach.
The Red Men continued to press with a number of opportunities, however Hope was able to limit true scoring opportunities and keep their shutout of the Red Men intact. Carthage finished with five of their eight shots in the second half on goal, while Hope put six of their 15 in the second half on target.
Mavrogiannis finished the defeat with a career-high eight saves on the night.
The Red Men will return Carthage in search of their first home win of the season as they open the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin slate with Carroll University on September 22. Kick-off on Saturday is set for 7:30 p.m. following the Lady Reds' match with the Pioneers at 5:00 p.m.
Looking ahead to the weekend Domin noted, "Everything gets exciting come Saturday. Hopefully we can get a few guys back to the lineup."
