GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Stephen Golz scored two goals in Wheaton's 3-0 victory over UW-Platteville.

Wheaton, Ill.- Starting a rare stretch of three games in four days, the Wheaton men's soccer team cleared its first hurdle with a 3-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers on Wednesday. Due to the postponement of an earlier match, Wheaton will travel to Benedictine on Thursday night to face the Eagles at 7 PM. The Thunder then host Illinois Wesleyan to close the stretch on Saturday night. With tonight's victory, Wheaton, ranked ninth in the country in this week's NSCAA poll, improves to 10-3-1 on the season and secured its fourth consecutive shutout.

A one-sided match from the beginning, Wheaton outshout the Pioneers 25-4. Derek Babb recorded his sixth shutout of the season by making two saves, both in the first half. Platteville's Ian Christensen allowed three goals and made seven saves.

Wheaton's first goal came in the tenth minute when Adam Blackman's shot from the top of the box was saved by Christensen but bounded free right to the feet of Josh Clark (PICTURED RIGHT) who knocked it into the open net for the early 1-0 lead. Despite continued pressure, the 1-0 lead would hold until halftime.

Early in the second half, Wheaton found an insurance goal off a defensive miscue by the Pioneers (6-6-3). Attempting to play the ball across the back line, Platteville turned the ball over to Stephen Golz at the top of the six-yard box and Golz quickly slid the ball into the lower right corner of net to make it 2-0.

Golz added a second goal in the 65th minute when he collected another deflected save of a Blackman shot and deposited it in the net for his tenth goal of the season to provide the final margin of 3-0.


Note worthy: Wheaton has not allowed a goal in the last 396 minutes and 53 seconds...Wheaton's four-game shutout streak is the longest since the Thunder recorded four consecutive shutouts in 2003...Wheaton is now unbeaten in six matches since a 2-0 loss to Loras on Sept. 24.