Chicago, Ill. -- The North Park Vikings earned their first-ever victory over Wheaton in women's soccer on Saturday evening, as the hosts edged their suburban visitors 1-0 on Senior Night to keep themselves alive in the race for CCIW Tournament qualification. Despite the Thunder controlling the match, they could not find the back of the net in Chicago, and the team's record now sits at 3-3-1 in conference play.

Molly Thorne registered the first shot on target of the match in the seventh minute, as Wheaton looked to claim an early advantage. Both teams then traded shot attempts and corner kicks as the first half saw plenty of attacking action but no goals. The first half ended scoreless when neither side was able to make their pressure count before the whistle.

The stalemate was broken eleven minutes into the second half when the Vikings snatched the lead on home turf via a corner kick situation. The goal was North Park's only shot on frame in the whole match. The visitors generated four more attempts on goal in the remainder of the contest, but an alert Viking goalkeeper and energetic home crowd in the hosts' final home match of the season were enough for North Park to hang on and claim a key victory.

Wheaton out-shot their Windy City opponents 13-9 and put five more attempts on target than North Park. The Thunder did not record any saves on the evening, as all of North Park's efforts apart from the goal missed the target or were blocked by Thunder defenders. The guests earned eight corner kicks to the hosts' four and forced six saves. Thorne was the most clinical attacker for the Thunder on the night, putting both of her shot attempts on goal. Audrey Sexson made her return after a spell on the sidelines and fired off two shot attempts and one on target while playing the entire match. Mia Blair, Adrienne Carter, and Emily Setran accounted for the other three efforts on frame for Wheaton.

Wheaton will look to bounce back from tonight's loss when they travel to Decatur for their final regular season match on Wednesday night. If the Thunder avoid defeat to Millikin and/or North Park loses at Carroll in their final game, Wheaton will clinch a spot in the conference tournament.