St. Louis, Mo. (11/10) – The Thunder men's soccer team has extended its season with a 1-0 victory against Washington (Mo.) on Friday night in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament. Tonight's match was delayed for over an hour because of a delay that occurred in the night's opening match due to lightning in the area. Wheaton is now 13-7-3 on the season and Washington (Mo.) ends its season with a record of 12-4-2.

Wheaton will face University of Redlands on Saturday night at 7:30 PM in a Second Round match that will be played at Washington University in St. Louis. Redlands defeated Fontbonne University 4-0 in Friday's other First Round match at Washington University.

Wheaton battled the host Bears to a scoreless tie for the majority of Friday's match. At the 79:04 mark of the match Wheaton senior Dan Mesko was taken down in the box to give Wheaton a penalty kick opportunity. Thunder junior Strider Elass shot a penalty kick, it was saved by Washington goalkeeper John Smelcer, but Elass collected the rebound off of Smelcer and Elass put the ball into the lower right corner of the net to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead that would become the final score.

Wheaton put considerable pressure on the Bears in the first half as the guests out-shot Washington 4-0 in the half and the Thunder had three scoring opportunities, forcing Smelcer to make three saves. The guests out-shot the Bears 11-2 for the match, with a 7-2 advantage in the second half. The Thunder held a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. Wheaton goalkeeper Ryan Souders (RIGHT) made two saves in 90 minutes of work in the Thunder net. Smelcer made four saves and allowed one goal in the Bears' net.

Tonight's win not only extends Wheaton's season, but it extends the coaching career of Thunder head coach Joe Bean, who has announced that he will retire at the conclusion of this season. Tonight's victory was the 604th career win for Bean, the winningest men's collegiate soccer coach ever.