Wheaton, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's soccer team were upset at home on Saturday night by a spirited Illinois Wesleyan squad in a rollercoaster match that finished 3-2 after an overtime golden goal from the Titans. The defeat sees Wheaton drop to 1-2-1 in conference play, and the home side will be kicking themselves for not seizing the chance to notch another CCIW victory.

There ended up being five goals scored at Joe Bean Stadium tonight, but all of the scoring and most of the action came after the first half of play. There was no shortage of attacking opportunities for either side in the opening exchanges, but neither team was clinical enough to find the breakthrough. Wheaton registered five shots in the first 45 minutes and forced one save from Wesleyan's goalkeeper thanks to a Justin Hill effort, while the visitors got off eight of their own and had Thunder goalkeeper Hasten Biddlecome scrambling to make four saves. Wheaton held a 3-0 advantage in corner kicks, but they failed to create the looks they would have been hoping for from these set pieces. Saturday's match was chippy and physical throughout, with the two teams combining for 28 fouls, 12 of which came in the opening period. Additionally, the Titans were shown a yellow card in the 38th minute of play. The mutual lack of cutting edge from the two teams produced a 0-0 halftime scoreline.

It did not take long for the fireworks to begin in the second half, however. After three efforts at goal from the Thunder, one of which was nearly another wonder-strike from Joey Sopikiotis, who was only foiled by the well-timed dive of the Titans' goalkeeper, the deadlock was broken in the 60th minute. Illinois Wesleyan's Donovan Malone ran through on goal, and with two Wheaton defenders trailing in his wake, he kept his composure when the ball arrived at his feet and slipped it in the bottom corner of the net past the outstretched body of Biddlecome. Coming against the run of play, the game's opener was clearly a blow to Wheaton's patient gameplan and a significant confidence boost for the visitors. Just four minutes later, the Titans earned a corner kick, and after the initial cross was repelled by the Wheaton back line, it came out to Gavin Smith, who stroked an incisive pass across the face of goal. After taking a touch off of a Wheaton defender and wrong-footing their shot-stopper, the ball fell perfectly for Trevor Martin, who made no mistake and instantly doubled IWU's advantage.

By this point, it felt as though Wheaton were down and out of the contest as this double sucker punch had taken any remaining wind out of their sails. It became clear that the Thunder would have to rely on a mistake from the visitors or a couple of lucky breaks to gain a foothold in the match. Fortunately for the hosts and their sizable home crowd, this break arrived in the 76th minute when leading goalscorer Silas Galvao was brought down in the penalty area by the Wesleyan goalkeeper. The man who drew the foul stepped up to take the penalty kick, and just as he did a few nights before against North Park, calmly put it away to lift the home side's spirits and halve the deficit. With only six minutes remaining in the 90, the Thunder were still pressing forward in search of an equalizer when AJ Moyes linked up with Sopikiotis intelligently on the right side of the Titans box. Before Moyes could bring the play to its natural conclusion, he was impeded from behind by an opposing defender and fell inside the box to earn Wheaton another penalty kick. Unsurprisingly, Galvao was once again the man for the big occasion, burying his second penalty kick of the night in the top left corner of the net. Blowing a kiss to the crowd, the senior attacking midfielder sent the Joe Bean faithful into ecstasy and restored parity for the home side when it seemed least likely. 

But the joy inside the ground was short-lived, as Illinois Wesleyan received a penalty kick decision of their own mere seconds after Galvao's tying goal. The Wheaton players and coaches were furious as they believed the Titan who was awarded the spot kick had gone to ground too easily, but the referee deemed the challenge worthy of a yellow card. All the controversy was ultimately meaningless, as the Wesleyan player responsible for taking the penalty and winning the match in regulation blazed his effort over the crossbar. Despite a couple of corner kicks for the Thunder in the dying minutes of the match, no concrete chances were created, and the game went into overtime.

Unfortunately for Wheaton, the huge boost of momentum given to them by the three penalty kick outcomes failed to help them over the line in the first overtime period. Just four minutes into extra time, a miscommunication in the Wheaton defense saw the ball presented to Illinois Wesleyan's Dane Hoare who had a clear run-in on goal and calmly swept home to seal a dramatic and memorable road victory for the Titans.

Full match statistics provide an interesting contrast, with Wheaton having dominated possession across the 94 minutes of play (70-30%), but also having three fewer shots on target than their opponents, having generated only four on the night. The Thunder finished the contest with 15 total efforts, while Wesleyan had 13 shots. Wheaton also led 7-2 in the corner kicks category and will walk away from this match frustrated with their lack of conversion. The head official brandished five yellow cards on the night, four of which were shown to Illinois Wesleyan players.

Wheaton men's soccer continues their conference schedule with a trip up to Kenosha on Wednesday, October 13th to take on Carthage before heading out to New Jersey for two nonconference matchups. The team will return home on October 23rd to host Elmhurst in their final regular season match at Joe Bean Stadium.