Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton men's soccer team persevered in earning a hard-fought 2-1 overtime victory at North Park on Wednesday night in a CCIW Men's Soccer Tournament Semifinal match. The tournament's No. 4 seed, Wheaton improves to 10-6-1 on the season. The top-seed, North Park is now 13-5 on the season.

Wheaton advances to the CCIW Men's Soccer Tournament Final on Saturday afternoon. The Thunder will travel to Naperville to face No. 2 seed North Central (17-1-1). The game time for the match is TBA. Wheaton will be making a conference-leading 13^th appearance in the CCIW Tournament Final on Saturday and the program's first trip to the Final since 2016. The Thunder have won a league-best nine CCIW Tournament Championships, and the most recent tournament title for the program was in 2014.

The North Central Cardinals defeated No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan 2-1 in Wednesday evening's other Semifinal match. NCC overcame a 1-0 deficit in the first half and scored the game-winning goal in the 80^th minute. Saturday's CCIW Tournament Championship Game will be played at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville.

In tonight's match at North Park, the Vikings and Thunder played a tightly contested first half. The Vikings scored first with a goal by William de Carro 21:08 into the match. Peder Olsen delivered a through ball to Tobias Lunde who passed off to de Carro. De Carro's shot was in the upper right portion of the goal to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

Wheaton responded with the equalizer seven minutes and 46 seconds later. Senior Silas Galvao (PICTURED LEFT) utilized some skilled footwork on the left side of the field and blasted in the game-tying goal. Galvao's goal was his team-high 10^th goal of the season.

North Park had seven shots in the first half tonight, including two shots on goal. The Thunder attempted six shots in the first 45 minutes, including four shots on goal. Each team was awarded a corner kick in the first half.

The second half played out with tremendous emotion and tension during the scoreless 45 minutes. The Thunder attempted the first three shots of the second half, during the first 15 minutes of the period. In the 64^th minute, Wheaton's Michael Groza was given a red card as Wheaton played with 10 men for the remainder of the match.

In the 68^th minute of the match, North Park's Jesse Anamoo took the Vikings' first shot of the second half. Anamoo's shot, left of the goal, was the first of 14 NPU shot attempts over a span of 14 minutes. With the Thunder down a man, the Wheaton defense shined in the stretch – particularly goalkeeper Hasten Biddlecome (PICTURED RIGHT). Biddlecome made five saves in the stretch and defender Brock Seneff stepped in and stopped a shot on goal. North Park's final shot of the match was taken by Jostein Blindheim and stopped by Biddlecome with just 2:07 remaining in regulation.

The Vikings attempted 15 shots in the second half, including seven shots on goal. Wheaton had four shot attempts in the period with one shot on goal. The Vikings had four corner kicks in the period and the Thunder had one.

Less than a minute into the first overtime, North Park was offside on a Vikings' possession. Wheaton regained possession following the offside call and just 1:22 into OT, Joey Sopikiotis attempted a shot that was blocked by the Vikings' defense. Wheaton continued to hold possession and was awarded a corner kick in the 94^th minute. On the corner kick, the Thunder drew a foul and was a awarded a free kick. Alessandro D'Argento's free kick was taken just two yards outside the left edge of the 18-yard box. The kick went 20 yards to senior Drew Beamer, running towards the goal. Beamer headed the ball into the upper right corner of the net for the dramatic game-winning goal at 95:04 into the match.

Biddlecome was stellar in goal for the Thunder tonight with seven saves and one goal allowed in 95 minutes. NPU netminder Alfred Sward stopped four Thunder shots with two goals allowed.

The Vikings had a 22-12 advantage in shots during the match, including a 9-6 edge in shots on goal. North Park was awarded five corner kicks, and Wheaton had three.
  
Admission for Saturday's CCIW Tournament Final at North Central is $8 for adults; $5 for seniors, students and children (ages 6-14); children ages 5 and under are admitted for free; current CCIW students are admitted for free with current/valid College ID. No free passes are accepted for the CCIW Championship event.