PICTURED ABOVE: Michael Martens' first career goal lead Wheaton to its third-straight shutout on Wednesday night.

Wheaton, Ill. - As Wednesday night's match dragged into the final minutes of regulation without a goal, it appeared as though Wheaton would be left with a frustrating series of 'what-ifs' to ponder from a match that saw the Thunder dominate possession and scoring chances. However, electric freshman Michael Martens was able to summon just enough magic to pull Wheaton ahead in the closing minutes and lead the Thunder to their third consecutive shutout victory. Martens' 87th-minute tally moved Wheaton to 5-1-1 on the young season with a 1-0 victory over Lake Forest College. The loss drops the Foresters to 4-3-1 overall. Wheaton will be back in action Saturday night when the Thunder travel to St. Louis to face WashU in their final non-conference tune-up.

Wheaton dominated the scoring chances on Wednesday night but rarely threatened the net. The Thunder held a lopsided 24-5 edge in shot attempts but put just four of those shots on goal. Jan Roessler made three saves and allowed one goal for the Foresters. Drew Cammarano did not record a save and did not allow a goal for his second consecutive shutout.

Martens' game-winning goal (VIDEO) came off an extended restart just over a minute after the Thunder freshman was subbed back into the game. Wheaton controlled the possession of a goal kick and the swung the ball across the mid-field stripe and out wide to the left to Tyler Robbins. Robbins drove a left-footed cross to the top of the 18-yard box where it appeared to be touched on by Ryan Melgar to AJ Moyes on the right side of the box. Moyes loaded up and sent the ball back across the mouth of goal to the far post where he found Martens in full sprint for the tap home goal, putting Wheaton ahead with just 3:43 to play in the match.

Prior to the goal, Wheaton's best opportunity came in the closing minutes of the first half. Miseker Wingate broke loose down the left side and was able to work his way past a pair of Forester defenders and turn the corner towards the net. Coming off his line, Roessler made a sliding save on Wingate's attempt to slot the ball to the far corner of the net on the ground, keeping the match scoreless to the intermission.

Drew Beamer also had several dangerous scoring opportunities, working his way open on corner kicks by skying above the Lake Forest defense, Beamer threatened several times with headers that just cleared the crossbar. Following a Lake Forest yellow card in the 75th minute, Wheaton found itself with a free kick opportunity from just past the right corner of the box. Martens threatened with a blistering left foot that bent over the Forester wall and pounded off the crossbar but skied into the air and landed harmlessly across the touch line for a goal kick.