PICTURED ABOVE: Noah Gulley and Max Carey connected on the game-tying goal in the 87th minute to send Saturday night's game to overtime.

Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder men's soccer team suffered its first defeat of the young season on Sunday night with a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss at the hands of the Washington University (Mo.) Bears. After falling behind 2-0 in the first minute of the second half, the Thunder rallied and tied the game late in the game to force overtime. After narrowly missing a game-winning opportunity the Thunder fell when the Bears' Kevin Perez launched a deep driving shot that ended the game at the 93:50 mark. Wheaton falls to 1-1 with the defeat while the Bears improve to 2-1.

Both teams mustered 14 shots on the evening with the Bears holding a 7-5 edge in shots on goal. WashU's Nick Tannenbaum earned the win in net by making three saves while allowing two goals. Wheaton's Matt Paprocki allowed three goals while making four saves.

The woodwork proved to be a stingy defender early in the game as the Bears had an early opportunity rattle off the crossbar and out and Noah Gulley suffered a similar fate several minutes later when his diving header attempt hit the near post and rolled away.

While slowly building momentum through possession, the Bears capitalized on a beautiful cross into the box in the 29th minute and Kevin Goon finished the goal to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. The crossbar saved the Thunder again in the 37th minute and a sprawling save by Paprocki (PICTURED RIGHT) in the 39th minute kept the score at 1-0 at halftime.

That 1-0 score would stand for only 49 seconds of the second half as Jack West's solid strike found the far corner of the net to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. The Thunder began to ramp up the intensity of their attack in the ensuing minutes and the pressure led to a penalty kick opportunity in the 59th minute. Marshall Hollingsworth finished the penalty kick to cut the Bears deficit in half.

WashU continued to stand tall defensively as the Thunder sent attacks in waves throughout the second half but finally Wheaton was able to break through when Max Carey's cross found the running head of Gulley who beat Tannenbaum to tie the score at the 86:54 mark. An energized Thunder attack threatened again in the final minute but Tannenbaum made a save on a Stephen Golz attempt to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period, the Thunder carried the momentum and nearly had a game winner when Reed Bartley's header off a corner kick struck the crossbar and again several minutes later when Tannenbaum made a save on a Hollingsworth attempt. However a crucial defensive mistake opened the door for Perez to take over at the top of the attacking third and launch the game-winning strike in the 94th minute.

Wheaton will return to action on Tuesday night when the Thunder travel to Dubuque to face Loras College at 7 PM.