River Forest, Ill. -- Dominican University played host to the Wheaton men's soccer team on Saturday afternoon in the first of four consecutive nonconference matches that the Thunder are set to contest. The Stars edged their guests, 2-1, in River Forest with all three goals being scored in the first half. Michael Anthony netted his first goal of the season for Wheaton and became the seventh different Thunder player to score in the opening four fixtures. Wheaton drops to 2-2 as a result of today's defeat.

It took the home side just six minutes to open the scoring following a sharp team move, but Alessandro D'Argento, Wheaton's leading scorer so far this season, registered the Thunder's first shot on target five minutes later in a quick attempt to answer back. The two teams exchanged shot attempts and corner kicks over the next 25 minutes, until Michael Martens set up Wheaton's equalizer with a low, driving shot that the Dominican goalkeeper failed to corral, and Michael Anthony was first on the scene to power home the rebound. Unfortunately for the visitors, an injury in the aftermath of Anthony's goal forced Wheaton to temporarily play a man down, and the Stars took advantage of the imbalance by retaking the lead immediately following the restart. A long ball over the top of the Thunder back line allowed the Dominican forward to run at goal, and while Jack Krahel did well to initially parry his shot, the resulting goal mouth scramble saw the ball poked over the line to restore the hosts' advantage. This crazy sequence was an obvious setback for the shorthanded away side, and Wheaton failed to register another shot in the first half. 

The Thunder earned three corner kicks in the second half and almost fashioned a dramatic late equalizer with just one minute remaining off of a set piece situation. But zero shots on target in the second 45 will no doubt be a source of frustration for the team, as the visitors did not put the winning side under enough pressure to find the necessary tying goal.

Wheaton posted one more shot attempt than their hosts today, but Dominican registered one more shot on target than their guests. Both goalkeepers made two saves in an even contest. Dominican tallied eight corner kicks to Wheaton's four, and the two sides combined for 20 fouls. Three yellow cards were shown in total, two of which went to the home side.

Next up for Wheaton is a Tuesday night road trip to UW-Platteville and kick off is scheduled for 7 PM in Wisconsin.