PICTURED ABOVE: Elliot Borge tallied a goal and an assist in Wheaton's season-opening 3-1 victory over Bethel on Friday night.

Wheaton, Ill. - Facing an early deficit, the Thunder men's soccer team responded in a big way and rolled to a 3-1 victory in their season opener on Friday night at Joe Bean Stadium. The defending national runners-up saw a miscommunication lead to a Bethel goal, but Wheaton responded with an equalizer just three minutes later and took the lead for good five minutes later en route to winning its fifth straight season opener. Wheaton will continue its play in the Bob Baptista Invitational at 7 PM on Saturday when the Thunder host Washington (Mo.) University. Bethel falls to 1-1 with the loss.

Wheaton handily outshot the Royals 27-5 on the night with a 22-4 edge in shots on goal. Wheaton's Matt Paprocki made two saves and allowed one goal while Bethel's Jakob Bartels allowed three goals and made 11 saves.

Despite dominating the early possession and scoring chances, the Thunder found themselves in an early hole when Bethel broke the scoreless tie early in the 24th minutes. A miscommunication in the box brought Paprocki off his line and Brendan Reich was able to slide the ball to Abner Arias-Olson who buried the shot into the open net to give the Royals a 1-0 lead at the 23:03 mark.

That lead would stand for exactly three and a half minutes before Marshall Hollingsworth (PICTURED ABOVE) scored the equalizer after several blocked shots to tie the game at 1-1. A few minutes later, the Thunder played the ball from the middle of the field out to the left wing where freshman Tyler Robbins sent a centering pass through the box that was flicked along by Elliot Borge and slotted into the net by Jon Clark to give Wheaton a 2-1 lead early in the 32nd minute. Hollingsworth nearly found the net again in the 40th minute but Bartels answered with a diving save to preserve the 2-1 score at halftime.

After several missed scoring chances early in the second half, Elliot Borge took advantage of a failed Bethel clearance and let loose a gorgeous bending strike that found the top shelf and padded the 3-1 Thunder lead. The Thunder continued to pepper the night and several choice scoring opportunities throughout the second half but Bartels stood tall in net and the 3-1 score proved to be final.

Wheaton will face the WashU Bears at 7 PM on Saturday night at Joe Bean Stadium. WashU suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Carthage on Friday afternoon with the Red Men scoring the game-winning goal with 8.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Carthage will tussle with Bethel at 2 PM on Saturday afternoon.

Note Worthy: With the victory, head coach Jake DeClute was able to win his coaching debut with the Thunder...Wheaton has not lost a game a head coach's debut since 1948.