Wheaton, Ill. -- After four consecutive clean sheets and three straight wins, the Wheaton women's soccer team finally conceded and suffered their first home conference defeat in their regular season home finale on Wednesday night. The Augustana Vikings edged their hosts, 2-1, thanks to a pair of penalty kicks in either half, and both teams now hold a 3-2-1 CCIW record. Katherine Ashley scored Wheaton's goal in tonight's contest, which also came from the penalty spot. 

The Thunder registered more shots and shots on target than their visitors from the west in the 90 minutes, posting 10-8 and 6-3 advantages, respectively. Lauren Ketchum only needed to make one save from open play, while her opposite number tallied five stops. Both teams earned four corner kicks, and a total of 17 fouls were called in a physical contest. Ashley, Emily Setran, and Lauren Walmer each had two shots on target to account for Wheaton's total of six, while Ashley and Walmer led the team with three attempts overall. Morgan Beamer and Sophie Lindquist both registered one shot in the match.

Wheaton nearly got off to the perfect start, as the freshman Walmer saw her first shot come back off the crossbar less than two minutes into the contest. But it was Augustana who opened the scoring from the penalty spot when Wheaton were whistled for a handball offence inside the box. The Vikings looked to compound their advantage in the following minutes, but Wheaton repelled their advances and ended the first half on top, posting the last two shots on target of the period.

The second half was largely controlled by the hosts, and Wheaton finally found their equalizer in the 69th minute, as Lindquist was brought down inside the box by the Augie goalkeeper and Katherine Ashley promptly buried the resulting penalty kick. Augustana immediately fired back with their first effort on frame of the second 45, but the Thunder continued to push forward in search of a winner. With the match still knotted up at 1-1, an odd sequence of events transpired just six minutes before the full time whistle. After a coming together in the penalty area, Wheaton were initially awarded a defensive free kick, but the head official consulted with his linesman and changed his mind to give the Vikings another chance from the penalty spot. Ketchum guessed the right way but the shot was dispatched precisely into the bottom left corner, and Augustana locked the game down defensively in the final minutes to earn a statement road win.

Wheaton will try to bounce back from Wednesday's disappointment when they travel into the city on Saturday evening to take on North Park. The Thunder will then finish their regular season slate in a key matchup with Millikin in Decatur a week from now.