PICTURED ABOVE: Noah Gulley scored his first goal of the season in Wheaton's 4-0 victory over Millikin on Wednesday night.
Wheaton, Ill. - A damp and dreary night could not discourage a sharp Thunder attack as the Wheaton men's soccer team rolled to its fourth straight victory with a 4-0 win over Millikin. With the victory, Wheaton concludes the regular season by leveling its record for the first time since the second game of the season. The Thunder will head into next week's CCIW Tournament with a record of 7-7-3 overall and a 5-3 mark in conference play. Having clinched the #3-seed in the CCIW Tournament, Wheaton will play at North Park next Wednesday night, November 2, in the CCIW Tournament Semifinals. Millikin falls to 8-6-2 overall and 2-5 in the CCIW with the loss.
Wheaton dominated Wednesday's match in all aspects including a lopsided 22-8 edge in shots and an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal.
Andrew Beard recorded his fifth clean sheet of the season by making three saves for the Thunder. Trevor Creek made seven saves and allowed four goals for the Big Blue.
Wheaton wasted no time in finding the scoreboard as
Max Carey send a brilliant cross from the right side across the box to find a running
Will Woodfin (PICTURED RIGHT) who cleverly one-timed the ball past Creek to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead just 7:49 into the match. Creek would be called upon several times in the following minutes to hold the line for the Big Blue as Wheaton barraged the Millikin goal with 13 shots in the first half. Millikin was able to slow the Wheaton momentum until surrendering a corner kick in the 40th minute. The corner by
Jacob Kapitaniuk narrowly missed bending its way into the net, glancing off the crossbar at the far post.
Miseker Wingate controlled the ball off the crossbar and played to the feet of
Noah Gulley, who blasted a low ground shot from the top of the 18-yard box that found the back of the net to give Wheaton a 2-0 lead.
Creek was up to the task yet again early in the second half, turning away Woodfin on a pair of close opportunities in the 50th minute. Wheaton caught a fortunate bounce in the 77th minute when the ball struck the hand of a Millikin defender in the defensive box for a penalty kick.
Ben Bakke calmly deposited the ball past Creek to push the lead to 3-0.
Drew Shay found the net with 43 seconds left off a
Peter Whallon cross to account for Wheaton's final goal.
Wheaton will next be in action next Wednesday night, November 2, when the Thunder travel to Chicago to face the North Park Vikings at 7 PM in the semifinals of the CCIW Tournament. The winner of Wednesday's semifinal will advance to next Saturday's CCIW Tournament Championship. The winner of the CCIW Tournament will receive the conference's automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Note Worthy: Wheaton has now scored four or more goals in three straight contests for the first time since early October of last season...Wheaton has scored four or more goals in three straight matches just four times since 2000.
