Newark, NJ -- The Wheaton men's soccer team closed out their fall break trip to New Jersey in disappointing fashion on Tuesday evening, falling 2-0 to Rutgers-Newark. The Thunder will look to bounce back from their two nonconference losses when they host Elmhurst on Saturday afternoon in their Senior Day match.

Wheaton can have no complaints about the final result with the full match statistics telling the story of the game. The Scarlet Raiders finished with decisive advantages in shots, shots on goal, saves, and corner kicks. Despite 13 efforts at goal, Wheaton only managed to keep two on frame and will be wishing that they brought their finishing boots with them on their East Coast adventure. Joey Sopikiotis and Ben Ferraro produced the two shots on target, but Wheaton's goalkeeper, Hasten Biddlecome, was the true stat padder of the contest, making ten saves to keep the scoreline at a reasonable margin.

The visitors registered the first shot of the evening after only 45 seconds, and Sopikiotis tallied their initial shot on target in the eighth minute of the match. But this opening flurry proved to be as dangerous as Wheaton would look while they were still in the contest. Rutgers-Newark found the breakthrough 11 minutes in and never looked back. The Thunder put up five more efforts in the remainder of the first half, but none were convincing enough to trouble the opposition's goalkeeper.

Squad rotation was prevalent for Wheaton tonight, as the coaching staff made three sizable batches of substitutions across the 90 minutes, perhaps with an eye towards giving the usual starting players a rest ahead of the more important conference fixtures in the coming days.

Just as they did in the first period, the Scarlet Raiders scored eleven minutes into the second half, and this goal, along with their relentless offensive pressure, was enough to let the hosts see the match out with relative ease. After unfavorable results in the Garden State, The Thunder will be hoping that a return to conference action and Joe Bean Stadium will prove more successful.

The Thunder have three matches remaining in the regular season, the first of which is against the Bluejays this coming weekend.