GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Chad Musgraves recorded Wheaton's second hat trick of the year in their 5-0 CCIW Semifinal victory over Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday night.

Wheaton, Ill.- All evening, the Wheaton men's soccer team mounted wave after wave of attack against the Illinois Wesleyan Titans but for 70 minutes the Titans stood firm.  Finally the Wheaton pressure became too much and the Thunder finished the game with a flurry of goals that ended in a 5-0 Thunder victory in the CCIW Semifinals at Joe Bean Stadium.

Chad Musgraves recorded a hat trick, Stephen Golz had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Seager notched his fifth clean sheet of the season as Wheaton (15-3-2) recorded their third straight shutout.

Wheaton outshot Illinois Wesleyan 26-9 in the match including 11-3 in shots on goal.  Both teams had pair of corner kicks.  Seager (PICTURED RIGHT) made three saves in the full 90 minutes in net for Wheaton.  Andrew Reed allowed five goals while making six saves for the Titans (11-6-0).

After a back and forth start, Musgraves broke a scoreless tie late in the 26th minute when he chipped the ball over the head of Reed from a sharp angle and the ball rolled over the end line for the first goal of the match.

That goal would be all the first half would hold as Wheaton held 1-0 at the intermission.

The second half continued to be a tightly contested match early on as play became chippy with the Titans earning a pair of yellow cards.  Mitchell Paur ended up starting the Thunder offensive onslaught with a run into the box that led to a shot that hit the left post and rolled free into the six-yard box.  Golz was there to clean it up for his fifth of the season and Wheaton led 2-0 at the 72:07 mark.

Not even two minutes later, Musgraves found his second goal of the match when he slid the ball past an outstretched Reed off a beautiful pass from Adam Blackman and the Thunder led 3-0.

Musgraves would cap off the hat trick in the 81st minute when he finished a Golz assist to make the score 4-0.

Jason Bhatta (PICTURED LEFT) put the exclamation mark on the match at the 87:22 mark with a spinning left-footed volley from outside the box that bent away from the keeper and inside the post to provide the final margin of victory.

With the victory, Wheaton advances to Saturday night's CCIW Championship game.  Wheaton will host the North Park Vikings  at 7 PM with the winner earning an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Note worthy: North Park defeated Carthage 3-2 in the other CCIW Semifinal match...Wheaton and North Park finished in a 3-3 tie in their previous meeting this season...both teams are undefeated this season in CCIW play...last season North Park defeated Wheaton 2-1 in the CCIW semifinals...the Vikings and Thunder met in the 2010 CCIW Tournament Championship at Joe Bean Stadium with North Park winning 3-2 in overtime...since its inception in 2001, Wheaton and North Park have combined to win nine of ten CCIW Tournament Championships...Wheaton and North Park have met five times in CCIW Tournament action with North Park holding a 4-1 advantage and a 3-0 advantage in CCIW Tournament Championship matches...Wheaton has won the CCIW Tournament Championship in 2002, 2003, 2006. 2007, 2008 and 2009...North Park has won the CCIW Tournament Championship in 2004, 2005 and 2010...Wheaton is 8-0-0 at Joe Bean Stadium this season.

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