Bloomington, Ill. – The Wheaton women's soccer team used an early goal to defeat seventh-ranked Illinois Wesleyan 1-0 on Saturday afternoon in the 2015 CCIW Women's Soccer Tournament Championship Match.
Today's victory improves Wheaton to 15-6-0 on the year and gives the Thunder the CCIW's automatic bid into the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament. Wheaton has won 12 of the 14 CCIW Tournament Championships that have been held by the conference. Illinois Wesleyan is now 18-2-0 on the year.
This year's NCAA Tournament appearance will be Wheaton's 19
th-consecutive appearance in the postseason tournament. The Thunder will find out the program's opening-round opponent and location on Monday afternoon at noon (CST) when the NCAA announces the tournament bracket at
NCAA.com.
Wheaton struck early in today's victory in Bloomington as passes by
Sydney Sharkey and
Anna Saunders put the ball inside the six-yard box. Thunder senior
Ally Witt (PICTURED LEFT) deftly put the ball past IWU goalkeeper Katie Denney just 3:23 into the match to give the Thunder an early 1-0 lead. Wheaton's defense held firm for the remainder of the first half as the Thunder withstood the Titans' 7-3 advantage in shots. Thunder goalkeeper
Mary Daghfal made two saves in the opening half.
The Wheaton defense worked hard to prevent IWU from evening the match in the second half as the Titans had just five shot attempts in the second half and Wheaton had no shots. The Thunder defense held the Titans to just two shots on goal in the second half and Daghfal made a key save in the 88
th minute on a shot attempt by IWU's Skyler Tomko.
Daghfal posted her first career shutout, making four saves in 90 minutes of action in the Thunder net. Denney played all 90 minutes in the Titans' net, making one save with one goal allowed.
Illinois Wesleyan attempted 12 shots in the match and Wheaton had just three shots. Witt's shot was the first shot of the game and only one of two shots on goal in the match for the Thunder. Illinois Wesleyan was awarded five corner kicks in the match and Wheaton had three corner kicks.
Note Worthy: Today's goal gives Witt 55 career goals, the fifth-highest total in program history…Witt now has 128 total points in her career and moved past Jaime Orewiler (127 points) for sixth place on Wheaton's career list for total points.
