Wheaton, Ill. -- The Wheaton women's soccer team lost their first conference match of the season on Wednesday night, as the Thunder fell 2-1 at home to a spirited North Central side. While the team still controls their own destiny in the race for first place in the conference, this result serves as a reality check to a program that boasted a remarkable unbeaten streak in CCIW play coming into tonight's match.
In their previous 27 meetings, North Central had never beaten Wheaton, and were 0-15 all-time at Joe Bean Stadium. But a Cardinals program that came into the game sitting in third place with a 4-2 conference record felt confident in their chances of upsetting a Wheaton squad beset by injuries, and this confidence was on full display for most of Wednesday's contest.
The home side began the match on the front foot, with
Sophie Lindquist registering the first shot of the night. This was quickly followed by two corner kicks and a
Jensen Ellis effort, and it felt like only a matter of time before the Thunder opened the scoring. Sure enough, a familiar combination led to Wheaton's breakthrough goal just nine minutes into proceedings.
Morgan Beamer picked up the ball on the left flank and lobbed a curling cross towards North Central's back post, where it was eagerly headed in by
Audrey Sexson, the third goal of the campaign for the sophomore midfielder. But unfortunately for the hosts, this was as good as it got all night. The attacking intensity that Wheaton showed in the opening ten minutes quickly declined, and the Cardinals responded with great determination.
Less than a minute after Wheaton's opener, North Central earned their first shot on target, which was easily gathered by Wheaton's
Lauren Ketchum. The Thunder picked up three shots off target soon after, but the tide slowly began to turn in favor of the visitors after this flurry. The Cardinals had four shot attempts in the five minutes immediately preceding their first goal, including a one-on-one which was somehow blasted wide of the net. But the travelers from Naperville soon earned their deserved equalizer when Elle Sutter's shot was blocked into the path of teammate Katie Huey, who was all too happy to slot home the rebound. This goal arrived in the 23rd minute and set the stage for a back-and-forth second section of the first half.
A Wheaton yellow card in the 27th minute, the only booking of the game, was followed by two more Cardinal attempts at the Thunder's goal, and it was clear that the momentum was lying with the away team. Wheaton managed a pair of shots on target in the closing minutes of the first 45, but North Central reached halftime with a 1-1 scoreline that likely felt like a winning margin after their improved display.
Despite conceding another chance just twenty seconds into the second half, Wheaton started the period as the stronger of the two sides, and came as close as they would all night to finding their second goal. Once again, Sexson hit the target with a low, powerful strike towards the center of the goal, and after the North Central keeper parried her attempt,
Jensen Ellis let fly with a second effort. This shot was cleared off the line by a Cardinals defender, and the chance to regain the lead evaporated. This defensive scare woke North Central up from their post-halftime slumber, and the Cardinals quickly fired off back-to-back shots on frame in response.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the two teams traded blows, and while the guests had the more frequent and dangerous chances, Wheaton continued their pursuit of a tie-breaking goal. Then in the 79th minute, just as overtime was beginning to loom on the horizon, the winning goal arrived for North Central. Super sub Aly Crum popped off the bench to fire home from the top of the box to send the visiting bench into wild celebrations. The Thunder still had ten minutes to rescue a draw, but it was not to be at home on this occasion.Two more shot attempts rolled off target, and the Cardinals held on to earn their first ever victory in Wheaton.
North Central finished the match with a 19-15 edge in shots, with ten attempts from the visitors on frame to only six for Wheaton. Ketchum made eight saves on the night, while the Thunder forced four out of the Cardinals goalkeeper. A relatively even split in corner kicks saw Wheaton earn five to North Central's four. Additionally, the home side maintained a 57-43% possession tilt. Despite only seeing one yellow card caution issued, the match was a physical affair throughout, with both teams being whistled for 12 fouls.
This loss drops Wheaton to 6-1 in conference play, but they still sit atop the standings by virtue of their head-to-head tiebreaker over second-place Illinois Wesleyan. The Thunder travel to Millikin on Saturday, and a win will secure at least a share of the regular season title and hosting rights for the conference tournament as the #1 seed. A loss or a draw in Decatur means that it could instead be the Titans celebrating their first conference championship since 2015.
