Naperville, Ill. - The Thunder men's soccer team opened its CCIW schedule on Wednesday night with a 2-1 loss at North Central. An 80th minute goal from the Cardinals proved to be the winner and pushed the Cardinals to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW. Wheaton is now 5-3-1 overall and 0-1 in the CCIW. Wheaton will travel to Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon for a 3:30 pm kickoff against the Titans.

North Central struck first on a crisp night in Naperville when Gavin Sanchez scored his goal of the season in the sixth minute to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. The Cardinal defense held strong for the rest of the half, holding Wheaton scoreless despite the Thunder holding a 5-3 edge in shots.

The Thunder needed very little time to even things early in the first half, tying the game on the first shot of the second half. Coming off an Andrew Wade free kick, Chase Gwynn was able to head home the goal past North Central's Marco Soto to tie things at 1-1.

Soto answered the call several times for the Cardinals, keeping things tied before North Central was able to pull back ahead with a goal by Elmer Eng at the 79:21 mark to make it 2-1 in favor of the hosts. Both goalies made saves down the stretch with neither allowing any further damage to keep the final score at 2-1.

Drew Cammarano made five saves and allowed two goals for the Thunder. Soto allowed one goal and made three saves for the Cardinals who ended up being outshot 12-10 overall despite owning a 7-4 advantage in shots on goal.