BOXSCORE

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's soccer team picked up its second consecutive victory with a 4-0 win against CCIW-rival Augustana on Friday night at Joe Bean Stadium. Wheaton is now 5-2-1 overall and 1-1-0 in conference play. The Thunder will be off until the squad resumes CCIW play on September 28 against Millikin at 7 PM. Augustana falls to 3-3-2 overall and 0-1-0 in league play.

Senior Cory Smith (PICTURED LEFT) gave Wheaton a 1-0 lead with a goal just 5:02 into the match, as he put the ball into the back of the net off of a crisp pass from Matt Swartz. Senior Strider Elass utilized a Jason VanderVeen (PICTURED RIGHT) assist 21:45 into the contest to extend Wheaton's lead to 2-0. Steve Poppe's first goal of the season came off of a VanderVeen assist 39:12 into the match, as Wheaton held a 3-0 lead until halftime. Elass quickly and alertly booted the ball into the net on a free kick 64:31 into the match to record his second goal of the night and account for the final score of 4-0. The Thunder senior now leads the team with six goals following his two-goal performance tonight.

Wheaton out-shot Augustana 13-8 and the Vikings held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Senior goalkeeper BJ Dons played all 90 minutes in the Thunder goal, making five saves to record his first shutout of the season. Nathan Jensch played 53 minutes in the Vikings' goal, with three goals allowed and one save. Michael Dolan played 37 minutes for Augustana, making one save, with one goal allowed.

Tonight's win comes off of a 6-1 win against Aurora at home on Wednesday night. First-year Wheaton head coach Dr. Michael Giuliano noted of his team, “It takes time for a team to get to know a new head coach; and it also takes time for a new coach to get to know his team. I think everybody is starting to figure things out and you can see the results of that on the pitch right now.”