Chicago, Ill. -- A late rally from the Wheaton men's soccer team came up just short on Saturday night, as the fourth-ranked team in the country, the Chicago Maroons, held on for a 3-2 victory in their home opener. UChicago opened the scoring just before halftime and twice extended their lead on the way to what appeared to be a comfortable second half. But a penalty kick from Alessandro D'Argento and a beautiful long-range effort from Victor Choi had the favored hosts breathing a sigh of relief when the final whistle blew. Wheaton falls to 1-1 on the season as a result of tonight's loss, but the team's first half performance and their refusal to back down in the late stages of the match will surely serve as a moral victory.

Wheaton started the match with plenty of energy and resolve, but the hosts wasted no time in generating the first chances of the contest, forcing Thunder goalkeeper Jack Krahel into three saves in the opening 20 minutes. After another attacking flurry from the Maroons was repelled by the visitors' defense, Wheaton earned their best chance of the first half when Drew Beamer saw his header on goal saved remarkably by UChicago's keeper. The underdogs sought to capitalize on a brief spell of offensive momentum, but two minutes later it was the hosts who snatched the lead with a goal-bound header of their own. Wheaton forced one more save from the opposition goalkeeper before the break, but the team fell just short of going into the locker room on level pegging.

Three more shot attempts by the hosts arrived in the opening minutes of the second period, and Krahel was once again called into action, expertly tipping one effort wide of the goal. But the second goal arrived for UChicago in the 62nd minute after a surgical pass into the box led to a close range tap-in for the waiting Maroon attacker. Five minutes later, the Thunder nearly halved the deficit as D'Argento had his effort on frame repelled, only for Jack Jacquet to strike the post on the rebound. Once again, UChicago's defensive escape quickly materialized into a goal of their own when their third scorer of the night bent in a beauty from range to earn what would later turn out to be the winning goal. At the time, it seemed likely that the top five team would close out their home opener with little fuss, but four minutes after they pushed their lead to three, Harrison Lee's cross into the box was handled by a UChicago defender and Wheaton were awarded a penalty kick. Thursday night's opening goalscorer, Alessandro D'Argento, stepped up and calmly planted the twelve-yard shot into the back of the net to give Wheaton a glimmer of hope. The home side only registered one more shot on target in the final 15 minutes of the game, as they prioritized keeping Wheaton's attack at bay over extending their lead back to three. D'Argento had two more looks at goal denied, and Nick Rodriguez saw an attempt blocked before Wheaton's second goal came with just over a minute remaining in the match. None of Chicago's defenders stepped out of their box to close down Victor Choi as the senior midfielder sized up a shot, and he promptly punished their slow reaction by curling in an excellent strike into the top right corner. Unfortunately for the suburbanites, their late goals did not prevent a Maroon victory, though they served as deserved reward for a strong performance on the whole.

UChicago registered 17 shots and ten efforts on target in Saturday's contest, while Wheaton posted 11 and six, respectively. Krahel made seven saves on the night and equipped himself well in the goal just as he did in Thursday night's win, while his Maroon counterpart made four. UChicago's advantage was heaviest in the corner kick category, as the home side earned eight to Wheaton's one. The two sides combined for 17 fouls across the 90 minutes and one yellow card. D'Argento was Wheaton's most productive attacker this evening, generating team-highs of four shots and three efforts on frame. Jacquet was next in line with two attempts, and the junior joined Choi and Beamer with one shot on goal to their names.

Despite the end result, there were plenty of positives for the Thunder to take away from a road match against a highly ranked opponent. Wheaton will look to build on this progress and earn the second win of their season when they return home to face Lake Forest on Wednesday night in another nonconference test.