VIEW COACH GIULIANO'S POSTGAME COMMENTS

Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton men's soccer team battled North Park on Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams, with a conference title on the line. A late goal by Thunder allowed Wheaton to emerge with the 1-0 victory and outright possession of its league-best 19th CCIW Championship.

North Park and the Thunder battled through a tightly contested first half that saw the Vikings attempt eight shots and Wheaton had six. The contest was tied 0-0 at halftime.

The second half continued to be evenly matched with key defensive stands for both teams. A corner kick off of the foot of Thunder senior Noah Anthony was headed into the net by junior Stephen Golz (PICTURED LEFT) in the 78th minute to break the deadlock and give Wheaton a 1-0 lead. The Vikings had a flurry of shot attempts in the final two minutes; however, a pair of saves by Wheaton netminder Matt Paprocki helped the Thunder secure the win and the conference title.

Paprocki (PICTURED RIGHT) made three saves for the Thunder in recording his eighth shutout of the year. North Park goalkeeper Wesley Woodley made two saves and allowed just the one goal in the second half.

North Park attempted 17 shots in the match and Wheaton had 16. North Park was awarded five corner kicks and Wheaton attempted three.

Wheaton is now 16-3 on the year and closes the CCIW schedule with a 6-1 conference record. The Thunder will be the top seed in the upcoming CCIW Men's Soccer Tournament. Wheaton will host fourth-seeded Millikin on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in the CCIW Tournament Semifinals.

The advancing team from the Wheaton-Millikin match will face the advancing team from Wednesday's other semifinal between Elmhurst and North Park in the CCIW Tournament Championship Match. The championship match will be held on Saturday at the highest remaining seed.

Note Worthy: Wheaton's 2014 CCIW Championship is the program's third consecutive conference title…head coach Mike Giuliano has guided the Thunder to four CCIW Championships in his eight seasons at Wheaton, including the last three titles…tonight's goal by Stephen Golz marked the second consecutive season that he has scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory in the regular season finale against North Park to give Wheaton a CCIW Championship.