PICTURED ABOVE: Will Woodfin scored the first two goals of his career in Wheaton's 5-0 win over Augustana on Wednesday night.
Wheaton, Ill. - Coming into the home stretch in their chase to make the CCIW Tournament, the Thunder men's soccer team responded with one of its most complete performances of the season on Wednesday night in a 5-0 victory over Augustana at Joe Bean Stadium.
David Clark scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the match and the Thunder cruised to their largest victory of the season. With the victory, Wheaton improves to 5-7-1 overall but most importantly moved to 3-3 in the CCIW. Wheaton now sits in fifth place in the conference standing leading into a crucial battle with fourth place North Central on Saturday afternoon. Augustana falls to 4-10-1 overall and 0-4-1 in the CCIW.
Wheaton dominated the Vikings statistically on Wednesday night, earning a 22-5 advantage in shots on goal including an 11-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Andrew Beard made four saves in posting his fourth shutout of the season. Corey Mankins allowed five goals but made six saves for the Vikings.
An early foul proved to be very costly for the Vikings as
Andrew Wade's free kick found the sliding foot of
David Clark at the far post to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead just 87 seconds into the match. Augustana threatened to tie the match early in the 10th minute when Beard bobbled a save on a high shot but managed to hold on to keep the Vikings scoreless. Clark doubled Wheaton's lead at the 14:35 mark when Mankins managed to save a blast from
Josh Greene that trickled out to the right and set up Clark with an easy finish. The senior nearly finished his hat trick in the 24th minute when his shot rolled untouched to the far post from the top of the 18-yard box, but the ball rolled off the post and back out, preserving the 2-0 lead.
Andrew Beard made his best save of the night in the 35th minute when he reached full extension to the lower right corner to turn away Tyler Duggan's shot and force an Augustana corner kick.
Drew Shay nearly gave the Thunder a three-goal advantage heading into the halftime break when his 42nd minute shot rattled off the crossbar and away from the goal.
Facing an uphill battle in the second half, things got much tougher for the Vikings in the 51st minute when Salah Aghlaf was issued a red card following a collision with Ayo Agunbiade, causing the Vikings to play with only ten men for the final 39 minutes of the match. After being denied on an impressive save by Mankins earlier in the second half,
Will Woodfin found the back of the net on a tap-in goal following a cross from
Miseker Wingate (PICTURED RIGHT) and a flick-in by
David Clark. Woodfin would add a second goal just three minutes later to push Wheaton's lead to 4-0.
Kolby Versage added Wheaton's final score in the 89th minute off a Wingate assist to provide Wheaton's 5-0 victory.
Wheaton will next be in action on Saturday when the Thunder travel to Naperville to face the North Central Cardinals at 4:30 PM in a crucial CCIW match.
