Box Score

Wheaton, Ill. - In front of a raucous home crowd, the Wheaton College men's soccer team was opportunistic with its scoring chances and held off a furious rally to defeat No. 4-ranked Loras College 3-2 on Friday.

The Thunder improved to 5-2-0 overall while the Duhawks fell to 4-1-1.

After being inundated with injuries recently, Wheaton head soccer coach Mike Giuliano said he just wanted to survive a tough week against a pair of nationally ranked foes in the forms of Dominican University and Loras.

Wheaton started slowly as Loras dictated much of the pace with fast passing and lots of movement. But it was the Thunder who cracked the scoreboard first. Matt Swartz scored on a loose ball in front of the net for his fifth goal of the season at the 30:50 mark in the first half.

A crowd of 1,024 came out to loudly cheer on the Thunder, and the team fed off the energy and played more aggressively as the game progressed.

"For the people that come and see this as normal, I don't think they realize what a totally unique thing that is," Giuliano said. "Not just that [the fans] are here, but they're into it as well. They stand and cheer the whole game. It's an enormous energy thing. This was Division III college soccer at its best."

Wheaton struck paydirt again early on in the second half on a pair of unusual goals. In the immediate aftermath of a Thunder corner kick, Luke Partain hit a left-footed shot into the air that curved across the box and was collected by Jon Humphrey, who gathered the ball and knocked it in towards the right post at 50:22.

Seven minutes later, Jason Lollar lobbed a shot with a ton of topspin into the air from the top of the offensive third that glided right over the Loras goalie's head and bounced in the goal for a 3-0 Wheaton lead.

From that point on, the Duhawks mounted a furious offensive with their players pushing the ball upfield and getting chances at top speed. The desperation paid off in the 60th minute as Miguel Bonilla scored on a header on a long ball from about 45 yards out.

The pressure mounted as Wheaton played with one man down for the final 17 minutes of the game after a player was red carded and had to exit the game. Loras chopped the lead to 3-2 with 4:19 left in the game as Matt Splittgerber scored through a crowd right up front off a corner kick.

Despite being outshot 27-9 in the game, the Thunder kept clearing the ball defensively over the final minutes to clinch the victory.

"Loras is a beautiful team to watch," Giuliano said. "I think Dan [Rothert] coaches them brilliantly. They deserve everything they've got the last couple years."

Wheaton goalkeeper Kit Carson got the win as he made seven saves. The Thunder offense scored on all three of their shots on goal as Loras keeper Adam Kelsch took the loss.

The Thunder resume their playing schedule at 7:00 PM on Tuesday by hosting University of Wisconsin-Platteville.