PICTURED ABOVE: Peter Whallon's 76th-minute goal broke a scoreless tie to lead Wheaton to a 4-0 victory on Wednesday night.
Elmhurst, Ill. - The Thunder men's soccer team used an offensive onslaught in the final 15 minutes on Wednesday night to earn a 4-0 win at Elmhurst College. Held scoreless for the first 75 minutes despite 16 shots, Wheaton found the net with four of its final seven shots of the night to roll to a 4-0 victory at Elmhurst in a crucial CCIW matchup for both teams.
Jockeying for position in the middle of a crowded CCIW table, Wheaton's victory moves the Thunder to 2-2 in conference play ahead of the Bluejays, who fell to 2-3 with the loss. Wheaton is now 6-7 overall while the Bluejays fall to 6-5-2. Wheaton will host Illinois Wesleyan at 3:30 pm on Saturday afternoon for another key CCIW tilt.
Wheaton's finishing flurry of shots gave the Thunder a 23-10 advantage on shots with a 9-7 edge in shots on goal. Nick King made five saves and allowed four goals for Elmhurst while
Hasten Biddlecome stopped seven shots in a shutout effort for the Thunder.
Both teams seemed to wait until the second half to open up their offensive attack, with Wheaton owning just a 6-4 edge in shots over the first 45 minutes. An Elmhurst foul at the 75:04 mark of the second half would set up the game's first goal.
AJ Moyes' free kick found the head of
Peter Whallon for his third goal of the season. Just over eight minutes later,
Max Carey found the back of the net with a thundering strike from 35 yards out to put Wheaton ahead 2-0.
Two minutes later,
Jacob Kapitaniuk worked himself free in the box and rattled the woodwork with a shot attempt, only to pound home his own rebound to push the lead to 3-0.
Will Woodfin would put the finishing touches on the victory with an easy goal in front of the net off a pass from
Drew Shay to account for the 4-0 spread.
The victory is Wheaton's second consecutive 4-0 victory following a 4-0 win at Carroll on Saturday night. Wheaton will next be in action on Saturday afternoon when the Thunder play host to Illinois Wesleyan (7-4-1, 2-1 CCIW) at 3:30 pm.
