Rome, Ga. - The Thunder men's soccer team got back in the win column on Friday afternoon as Wheaton defeated the Olgethorpe Stormy Petrels 2-1 in their first game at the Berry Invitational. The Thunder scored first for the first time this season and scored the game-winning goal on a corner kick in the middle of the second half to even their record at 2-2 on the season. Oglethorpe falls to 2-2-1 on the year.

Wheaton owned a healthy 22-9 advantage in shots. Both goalies made four saves on the day with Matt Paprocki earning his second win of the season in net for the Thunder.

After playing from behind in each of its first three games, Wheaton dented the scoreboard first early in the match when Marshall Hollingsworth slammed home a ball that had deflected off Oglethorpe goalie Vaughn Moore to give Wheaton the early 1-0 edge. Wheaton commanded play for the remainer of the half, owning an 11-3 edge in shots but put only three of those 11 shots on goal.

While the Thunder couldn't find the frame, Oglethorpe capitalized on an opportunity early in the second half and tied the game at the 57:48 mark when Nick Muntean finished off an assist from Martijn Edelman to tie the score. A series of corner kicks started to build attacking momentum for the Thunder before Reed Bartley finally finished off a corner kick from Mitchell Grove to give the Thunder the 2-1 lead early in the 69th minute. Paprocki was called into action to preserve the lead late in the match with a save in the 85th minute but he answered the call and Wheaton was able to close out the victory.

Wheaton will conclude its participation in the Berry Invitational on Saturday when the Thunder play the host Vikings at 1 PM Eastern time. Berry defeated Averitt 3-1 in its match on Friday.