Wheaton, Ill. -- Saturday was Senior Night for the Wheaton men's soccer team and ten Thunder players on this year's roster were recognized before their match against Carthage College. But it was a freshman who gave the home crowd the biggest cheer of the night, as Kyle Johnson bagged his third goal of the campaign to help the Thunder earn a 1-1 draw with the Firebirds. The team's CCIW record moves to 2-1-2 as a result of tonight's deadlock, and Wheaton will hope to earn their first conference home win against Millikin in the regular season finale ten days from now.

The visitors had considerably more chances to open the scoring in the first half than their hosts did, but Wheaton made the most of their opportunity when it  eventually fell their way. After repelling a string of Firebird attacks and shot attempts, the Thunder broke up the field in the 38th minute. Grant Roney held the ball up nicely on the right wing then slipped a pass over to Alessandro D'Argento at the top of the Carthage box. The team's leading scorer then became their joint-leading assist holder, as well, when he delightfully chipped the ball into the path of Johnson, who kept his cool and slipped it underneath the out-rushing Carthage goalkeeper. While it may have come against the run of play, Wheaton's opener was excellently crafted and came at the ideal time to give the home side the lead heading into the break.

The second half was played at break-neck speed as the match became stretched and Carthage committed more numbers forward in hopes of finding an equalizer. That hope was fulfilled in the 57th minute when the guests were awarded a penalty kick, and the leading scorer in the conference, Mickey Reilly, buried it in the bottom corner to draw the away side level. The Thunder responded immediately by earning back-to-back corner kicks and both teams had multiple chances to find a late winner, but the exciting and competitive clash ended in a stalemate.

Carthage out-shot their hosts by measures of 16-7 overall attempts and six efforts on frame to Wheaton's three. Jack Krahel made five saves in the Thunder net, including an excellent sprawling dive in the first half, while his Firebird counterpart made two. Carthage generated six corner kicks to Wheaton's four, and both teams were shown one yellow card caution in the second half. All three of Wheaton's shots on target came from the bench tonight, as substitutes Zakhar Zapolskyy and Harrison Lee each registered one in addition to Johnson's goal.

After a one-game return to Joe Bean Stadium, the Thunder are back on the road next week with trips to Augustana on Wednesday and North Park on Saturday on the agenda.