Decatur, Ill. - The Thunder men's soccer team picked up an important CCIW victory on Wednesday night with a 3-0 win at Millikin University. Entering play holding onto the fourth and final spot in the upcoming CCIW Tournament, the Thunder moved to 3-2-1 in conference play and 10-4-2 overall with two conference matches remaining. Millikin falls to 5-7-1 overall and 1-4 in CCIW play. Wheaton will have a week off before returning to action on October 30 with a 7 pm kickoff against Carthage College at Joe Bean Stadium.

With play holding in the middle third of the field for much of the night, Wheaton finished the match with a 19-13 shot advantage. Hasten Biddlecome made four saves in a shutout effort for the Thunder. Aiden Cesa made five saves and allowed three goals for Millikin.

Stafford Dowling waited just 5:23 into the match to put Wheaton ahead on a shot from the left side of the box off a Dillon Etter assist. Despite the early deficit, Millikin pushed forward in the following minutes, searching for an equalizer when Alessandro Desario had three straight shots with the final attempt being turned away by Biddlecome.

After an 8-7 shot edge in a wide open first half, Wheaton controlled play with an 11-6 shot advantage in the second half. The Thunder finally broke the defensive battle in the 83rd minute when Miseker Wingate turned Peter Whallon loose for a breakaway goal to put Wheaton up 2-0. Joey Sopikiotis put the finishing touches on the victory with just over a minute to play when he headed home a long goal kick from Hasten Biddlecome, giving the Thunder goalkeeper his first career assist.