PICTURED ABOVE: Joey Sopikiotis scored his first collegiate goal to give Wheaton a 1-0 double overtime victory at Carthage on Wednesday night.

Kenosha, Wis. - Joey Sopikiotis could not have picked a better time for his first career collegiate goal. The Thunder freshman was on the finishing goal of a second overtime breakaway that gave the Thunder a 1-0 victory over Carthage in a key CCIW matchup. The win clinches Wheaton's spot in the upcoming CCIW Tournament and moves the Thunder into second place ahead of the Red Men. Wheaton sits one game behind North Park and will travel to Chicago to face the Vikings on Saturday with the CCIW title on the line.

Carthage (9-8-1, 4-2-1 CCIW) out-shot the Thunder, holding an 18-10 shot advantage. However, Wheaton made the most of its chances, putting eight of its 10 hosts on goal while the Red Men had only four shots on goal.

The Red Men blitzed the Thunder defense early in the match, owning a lopsided 11-3 shot advantage in the first half with seven shots coming in the first 20 minutes. In the 15th minute, Xavian Cruz rattled the crossbar with a shot setting off a wild series of shot attempts that were turned away by the Thunder defense, finally clearing the danger after four shots. The woodwork proved friendly to the guests again late in the first half when Adrian Herrera's shot pounded off the crossbar and away from goal in the 38th minute, capping a scoreless first half.

Wheaton (10-5-1, 5-2 CCIW) was able to find its footing as the second half wore on, putting pressure on Carthage goalie Niko Mavrogiannis, forcing him into four second half saves. The final Carthage stop came in the final seconds of regulation when Austin Pack broke loose for a one-timer on a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box which was sent high but right at Mavrogiannis, who collected the shot to end the half.

Andrew Wade forced the first of two Mavrogiannis saves in the first overtime with a shot in the 94th minute. The second save once again came in the final seconds of the period when Peter Whallon's header with four seconds remaining was calmly collected to send the match into the second overtime.

Just two and a half minutes into the second overtime, Austin Pack was able to find some room in the middle of the field and play a long through pass to a streaking AJ Moyes. Moyes was able to track down the pass in the Carthage box and push a one-time pass to the center of the goal where Sopikiotis quickly slotted the ball into the net before the Red Men defense could get to him, stopping the clock and the match at the 102:54 mark for a 1-0 victory.