Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder women's soccer team closed out its 2017 CCIW schedule on Wednesday night with a 4-0 victory at Millikin. Wheaton improves to 10-4-3 overall and 7-0-1 in CCIW; and finishes the CCIW slate first in the conference.
Wheaton's 7-0-1 mark in league play gives the program its 19
th CCIW Championship. The Thunder will be the top seed in next week's CCIW Women's Soccer Tournament and host the tournament's No. 4 seed (TBA) on November 1.
Head coach
Pete Felske mentioned following Wednesday's win, "Winning the conference is a credit to the players, given the start that we had to the season. We have been improving every day and playing better at the end of the season than we were at the beginning of the year. The difference in how we are playing and now and five or six weeks ago is night and day. I am real proud of the effort that they have put in over the last few weeks in conference play." Felske concluded,

Wheaton junior
Madison Peebles (PICTURED LEFT) gave the Thunder an early 1-0 lead at Millikin on when she headed the ball into the net in the fifth minute. Peebles' header was assisted by
Anna Saunders. Freshman
Isabelle Oliver increased Wheaton's lead to 2-0 a little more than two minutes later when she scored on a
Morgan Whitman assist in the seventh minute. The Thunder maintained the 2-0 lead for the rest of the first half and held the advantage at the halftime intermission.
Bailey Wolf (PICTURED RIGHT) added a goal in the 59
th minute thanks to an assist from Peebles for a 3-0 Thunder.
Emma Fisler scored on a long shot from 25 yards out to extend the Thunder lead to 4-0 in the 65
th minute. Wheaton's fifth goal was tallied by
Hannah Cockrum in the 85
th minute thanks to a
Carney Blake assist.
Wheaton dominated the match, out-shooting the Big Blue 25-1, including a 14-1 edge in shot on goal. The Thunder had a 12-1 edge in corner kicks.
Thunder starting goalkeeper
Kathryn McGregor played the first 45 minutes of the match. Freshman
Madison Lee played the final 45 minutes in goal, making one save. Millikin netminder Anna Benvenuto made nine saves and allowed five goals in 90 minutes of work in the Big Blue net.
The Thunder close the regular season on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (EDT) at No. 24 Hope College.