GAME STATS Chicago, Ill. -- The Wheaton women's soccer team lives to fight another day as the Thunder pulled off a late comeback on Friday afternoon to send their first round match against UW-Oshkosh into overtime. Neither team found a winner in the 20 minutes that followed, so the fixture had to be decided via a penalty shootout. A chaotic series saw the two sides combine for six failed attempts from the spot, but Wheaton managed to outlast their WIAC opponents and book a place in Saturday's regional final. The Thunder will take on the University of Chicago on their home field, after the Maroons defeated Rhodes College 3-0 earlier in the day.

The Windy City lived up to its name on Friday, as the Thunder and the Titans battled it out amidst snowy and blustery conditions. The circumstances were far from ideal for either team, but this did not stop the two sides from giving it all they had and producing a pulsating encounter with no shortage of action or drama.

After a quiet opening, the match sprang to life on the eight-minute mark when Oshkosh made the breakthrough following a throw-in position. Wheaton failed to clear the ball, and Oshkosh's Rylie Kaufmann lobbed a hopeful shot from the edge of the box towards the Wheaton goal. The flight path of the ball and its slippery surface deceived goalkeeper Lauren Ketchum, and the shot rebounded into the net off of the underside of the crossbar. While this was the worst possible start for the CCIW champions, they knew they had plenty of time to find a response.

Wheaton immediately went on the attack and earned the first corner kick of the match just seconds after conceding. Myah Schoolman registered the Thunder's first shot, and Jensen Ellis hit the target immediately after, but neither attempt was enough to level the score. Oshkosh then flipped the field and came close to doubling their lead, earning two shots on target and a corner kick to keep the Wheaton back line on red alert. Audrey Sexson and Schoolman both saw their shots on frame saved by Titans goalie Erin Toomey, and while Oshkosh had more attempts than the Thunder in the opening half, Wheaton could not complain about the quality of looks at goal that they were getting. Despite plenty of lively attacking play from both teams, the score remained 1-0 at the break.

The second half also began calmly, with an Izzy McNally shot on target being the only event of note in the first 20 minutes of the period. As the clock hit 70 minutes, however, a match-altering exchange took place. The Thunder won a corner kick and found themselves with a chance to equalize. But no clear aim at goal materialized, and the Titans were able to launch a counterattack. A yellow card offense from Wheaton gave Oshkosh a free kick just inside their attacking half, and from this set piece, Mackenzie Stein was able to put a firmly-struck attempt on goal. While Ketchum made the initial stop, the ball fell kindly for Oshkosh's Alyssa Gunderson, and the Titans doubled their lead. Given their opponents' resolute defensive line and Wheaton's inability to find the goal that they needed, it appeared as though the Thunder's season would come to an end on Friday afternoon.

Two more shots on target and corner kicks for Oshkosh in the following exchanges only reinforced this view, but a freak own goal five minutes after the Titans went two goals to the good gave Wheaton a glimmer of hope heading into the closing stages. A relatively tame through ball from Wheaton should have been dealt with by the Oshkosh defenders, but an unfortunate mis-kick saw the ball loop over the stranded Toomey and roll into the net. This gift was an obvious boost to the Wheaton attacking players, as they searched for an equalizer with renewed belief and vigor. Morgan Beamer picked up a shot on target, and while this effort did not quite get through, the Thunder soon won a free kick in a dangerous position with seven minutes remaining in the 90. A perfectly executed routine saw Audrey Sexson collect the pass near the top of the box with her back to goal, hold off two Oshkosh defenders, and slide the ball back for Zoe Lipke to run on to. The freshman center back buried the shot in the upper corner for her first goal of the season, a strike that could not have come at a better time for the Thunder. Oshkosh were stunned, but they still managed to get off three efforts on target in the final six minutes of regulation as they desperately sought to regain their now-evaporated advantage. Despite the heavy pressure, Lauren Ketchum made the necessary saves and helped Wheaton see the game into overtime against the odds.

The first extra time was an unremarkable affair, as both goalkeepers were only called into action once and the two teams began to mentally prepare for the possibility of penalties. But the second 10 minute period threw the inevitable feeling of a shootout into question with more open play and good chances for either side to snatch a late winner. Less than two minutes after the restart, Oshkosh won a corner kick, and Ketchum had to stand on her head to make a remarkable double-save to keep the Titans out. A third effort was parried away by a combination of Wheaton defenders, and despite Oshkosh's heavy appeals to the head referee and linesman that the ball crossed the line during the flurry, play was allowed to continue. In the final minutes of open play, Sara Bakke, making her return from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, had a shot on target saved, and teammates Mia Blair and Molly Thorne both came close to scoring the biggest goals of their lives, but the ball stayed out of both nets in the second overtime, and penalty kicks did indeed arrive.

For Wheaton's veteran players, the memory of 2019's penalty shootout defeat to St. Thomas was surely fresh on the mind, but the team knew they had a chance to emerge as the victors this time around. Izzy McNally took the first spot kick for the Thunder, and while her initial attempt was saved by Toomey, the assistant referee deemed the goalkeeper to have come off her line prematurely, so McNally was allowed to re-take the kick. At the second time of asking, she made no mistake. Lauren Ketchum gave Wheaton the momentum in the shootout by following up McNally's conversion with a key save. While the Thunder failed to seize this advantage at first, the next Oshkosh player also missed their attempt, and Wheaton were given another chance. Zoe Lipke, the equalizing hero for the Thunder, confidently stepped up and rolled the ball right down the middle to give Wheaton a 2-1 lead. The next three players, two of whom were wearing the white of Oshkosh, all failed to hold their nerve from 12 yards out, and through a combination of good fortune and admirable persistence, Wheaton edged their opponents by a score of 2-1 in the shootout.

Friday marked Wheaton's first penalty shootout victory in the NCAA Tournament since 2008, when they toppled a different WIAC team, UW-Eau Claire, 3-1 from the spot. As a result of today's dramatic and extended comeback victory, the Thunder advance to Saturday's second round match to face the University of Chicago, an opponent whom Wheaton has already encountered once this season. The Thunder will look to keep the good feelings of the last two weeks going by upsetting a program that has knocked Wheaton out of the national playoffs multiple times over the years, most recently in a 2017 meeting that was hosted by the Maroons.