St. Louis, Mo. - A top-ten matchup came to a familiar conclusion on Wednesday afternoon as the Thunder women's soccer team dropped its first match of the season 2-1 in double overtime at ninth-ranked WashU. The Bears have now won each of the last three meetings between the two teams by a score of 2-1 including last year's National Quarterfinal matchup. Wheaton will continue its five-game road trip on Saturday with a 5 pm kickoff against the Loras Duhawks at the Rock Bowl in Dubuque, Iowa.

WashU (6-1-1) jumped out to an early lead when Ellie DeConnick teamed with Taylor Cohen on a give and go for DeConnick's fourth goal of the season. With the early momentum, the Bears continued to push forward through the first half, putting eight shots towards the net with six of them on goal in the opening frame. Wheaton goalkeeper Lauren Ketchum was up the challenge, making five of her 11 saves before halftime. Wheaton was able to pull even late in the first half when Sara Bakke found space on the right side of the box and her cross found Isabelle Oliver unmarked on the back post (VIDEO) for a tap-in goal. With the goal, Oliver has now scored a goal in each of her four career matchups against the Bears.

Play tilted toward the Bears offensive end in the second half as the hosts held a 9-1 second half shot advantage, but once again Ketchum was up to the task with two saves, helping the Thunder force overtime. DeConinck narrowly missed netting the game-winner in the first overtime when her shot from outside the box rattled off the crossbar and harmlessly away. Just over a minute later, Ketchum came well off her line and made a full extension save to turn away a WashU breakaway and the Thunder caught a break when Sydney Essler's follow-up sailed wide of the open net.

Ketchum's best save of the night came with 6:28 remaining in the second half when the WashU attack found DeConinck unmarked at the top of the six-yard box, only to have her shot denied by Ketchum's 11th save of the night. WashU's 25th shot of the night proved to be the fatal blow to the Thunder as Jolie Carl collected a loose ball in the box and worked around the Thunder defense before turning loose a shot that beat Ketchum who was shielded by a defender and could not come up with the save.

The Bears held a final shot advantage of 25-4 with a 13-2 edge in shots on goal. WashU attempted four corner kicks while surrendering just two corners to the Thunder. Emma Greenfield made one save and allowed one goal in goal for the Bears.