Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder women's soccer team earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Illinois Wesleyan on Friday afternoon at Joe Bean Stadium. The victory runs Wheaton to 10-1-1 overall as the Thunder are unbeaten in their last five matches. The loss in their CCIW opener drops the Titans to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the CCIW.
 
Wheaton dominated the possession through much of the match, owning a 17-5 shot advantage with a 13-2 edge in shots on goal. Maria Fields made 12 saves in net for the Titans while Lauren Ketchum stopped two shots for the Thunder.
 
Fields was pressed into early action, stopping a promising Thunder build-up just over a minute into the match for the first of her eight first half saves. Wheaton's lone goal of the night came after Fields turned away Aeva Graber's initial shot attempt but the save was sent back to Graber who played a ball across the six-yard box that was deflected into the net by a Titan defender for an own goal in the 29^th minute.
 
Wheaton nearly struck again in the 31^st minute off a corner kick opportunity that found Sarah Tomich at the top of the six-yard box but her header was turned away at the near post and away for another corner kick. Fields was up to the task again late in the first half, turning away two shots in quick succession to keep the match at 1-0 at the halftime break.
 
As both teams settled into an open midfield game as the second half wore on, the best scoring came in the 70^th minute when Isabelle Oliver blasted a shot from the top of the box that rattled the crossbar and sailed harmlessly away.