Azusa, Calif. (10/16) – The Thunder men's soccer team utilized two early goals to earn a 2-2 tie in two overtimes at Azusa Pacific University on Monday afternoon. Azusa, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Final Four participant last season, came into the match ranked seventh in the NAIA. Wheaton is now 8-5-3 on the season, while the Cougars have a record of 8-3-2.

With the tie, Thunder head coach Joe Bean remains at 599 career victories in his 45 seasons as a head coach. Bean is just one win shy of becoming the first head soccer coach in collegiate soccer history to achieve 600 career wins.

Today's match pitted Wheaton and coach Bean against Azusa Pacific head coach Phil Wolf. Wolf was a three-time All-American as a player at Wheaton and spent five years as an assistant coach for Bean.

Junior Cory Smith (LEFT) gave Wheaton an early 1-0 lead when he headed the ball into then net off of a Steve Rigby assist from a Justin West throw in 10:33 into the match. A few minutes later freshman Jason VanderVeen netted his first collegiate goal thanks to an assist by West at the 15:13 mark of the match.

In the second half the Cougars continually attacked the net, out-shooting the Thunder 14-1. Azusa Pacific's Steven Lenhart cut the Thunder lead 60:09 into the match when he scored off of a Sven Simon assist. The Thunder remained in the lead until the 84:22 mark of the match as APU's Chris Batdorf headed the ball into the net off of a Brandon Stirm assist in closing minutes to tie the match. Another Batdorf shot attempt was saved by Thunder goalkeeper Ryan Souders  in the final two minutes of the match as Souders and the Thunder defense sent the game into overtime.

Souders (RIGHT) had a strong effort on the day as he made nine saves, including three in the two overtime periods. Cougar goalkeeper Tyler Stromberg allowed two goals and made two saves. Azusa Pacific out-shot the Thunder 24-10 and held a 13-2 advantage in corner kicks.