Rock Island, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's soccer team headed west on Wednesday night looking for a key conference win and got what they came for, powering past the Augustana Vikings, 3-1, to remain perfect on the road in CCIW play. Thanks to their 3-1-2 conference record and head-to-head advantage over Carroll, the Thunder are now guaranteed to finish in the top six of the conference standings and will have at least one postseason fixture to look forward to. Alessandro D'Argento, Nati Hamilton, and Harrison Lee scored the goals for Wheaton in tonight's victory.

The box score statistics reflect a dominant showing for the Thunder over their hosts. Wheaton posted 24 shot attempts to just five for Augustana and earned eight more shots on target. Mason Escalante, making his first appearance for Wheaton in goal this season, tallied two saves in the second half, while the visitors forced eight stops from the two Augie goalkeepers who saw the field. The Thunder created five corner kick opportunities on the night while not allowing the Vikings any of their own. Wheaton out-possessed their hosts by a 68-32% differential across the 90 minutes.

Alessandro D'Argento extended his lead at the top of the scoring charts for Wheaton this season by netting his sixth of the campaign in tonight's contest. Harrison Lee became the second Thunder player to score four times this year with his sealing goal late in the second half. Nati Hamilton earned the first goal of his Wheaton career with what turned out to be tonight's winner. These three players each tallied two attempts on target, while D'Argento led the team with seven shots overall. Pryse Anderson also registered two shots on frame and picked up the assist on Lee's goal, while Michael Martens, Wes Bevard, and Michael Anthony accounted for the remaining shots on goal for the away side. Victor Choi was the provider for D'Argento's deadlock-breaker.

The first half of tonight's meeting in Rock Island was completely bossed by the Thunder, as Augustana's goal came on their only shot of the period. Wheaton started the match brightly but needed 24 minutes to create the opener when D'Argento supplied the score to put the team ahead. Just over ten minutes later, the Thunder's continued pressure paid off as Hamilton doubled their lead. Wheaton looked to be cruising towards a straightforward road win, but the Vikings pulled one back five minutes before halftime to establish an interest.

While the home side did generate a few more chances after the break, there was no sustained threat of a completed comeback, and Wheaton continued to be the side in the ascendency. A third goal was required to make sure of the result, however, and the travelers from the suburbs had to be patient in their pursuit of the result-clincher. With less than three minutes remaining on the scoreboard, Anderson found Lee who directed the ball home, and Wheaton could finally celebrate their deserved win and a spot in the conference tournament for the second season running and first time under new head coach Steve McCrath. 

Looking forward to what lies ahead, Wheaton's toughest conference road match is also their last one. The Thunder travel into the city on Saturday night to face #6 North Park in their penultimate regular season contest. The team will then conclude their slate with a home match against Millikin next Wednesday.