Bloomington, Ill. -- The difficult schedule for the Wheaton women's soccer team continued on Saturday afternoon with a tricky matchup in the Thunder's conference opener. The Illinois Wesleyan Titans topped Wheaton, 5-0, at home to begin the Thunder's CCIW slate. The team's record now sits at 1-6-2 as the second half of their season gets underway.

The home side did not open the scoring until 20 minutes into the match, and the Titans only registered one goal in the first half of play. But four goals in the second half, including a hat-trick by IWU's Caelyn Steffens, skewed the box score in favor of the hosts. Wheaton won the possession battle and earned more corner kicks than the Titans, but Illinois Wesleyan posted more shots and efforts on target than their visitors by convincing margins. Thunder goalkeeper Lauren Ketchum had a busy afternoon, as the senior was forced to make eight saves across the 90 minutes. Tori Seeland was the most productive attacker for Wheaton on Saturday as she put both of her efforts on goal. Myah Schoolman and Katherine Ashley combined for the other two of Wheaton's four attempts on frame.

The Thunder produced a corner kick opportunity less than three minutes into the match but did not manage a first half shot on target against a resolute Illinois Wesleyan back line. The home side registered the first four attempts of the contest, and the last of these efforts yielded the opening goal. Illinois Wesleyan doubled their lead just three minutes into the second half and added two more scores almost immediately to settle the contest and deliver an early blow to the reigning conference champions.

Wheaton will be looking to move on from today's result as quickly as possible, but the path ahead does not get any easier. Next up for the women's squad is a trip to Naperville to face #19 North Central on Wednesday night.