Naperville, Ill. -- The Thunder men's soccer team left town to contest their first conference road match of 2023 on Wednesday night, and it was no easy challenge that awaited them. The 11th-ranked team in the country, the North Central Cardinals, were the hosts for tonight's local matchup, and the side from Naperville came into the game having bested the Thunder in their last five meetings. But Wheaton shrugged off a halftime deficit to score twice in the second period and earn a valuable road draw to move their record to 6-4-1 and 1-0-1 in CCIW action. Tonight's scoreline means that head coach Steve McCrath is still unbeaten in conference road games as his second year at the helm unfolds.

The match began as one-way traffic, with NCC posting three shot attempts and as many corner kicks before finding the back of the net before the seven-minute mark. The Thunder registered their only first-half effort at the Cardinals' goal two minutes later, and the game soon took on a cagey, defensive style as both teams employed a cautious tactical approach and chose not to commit too many numbers forward in attack. The Wheaton defense did an excellent job of shutting down a talented North Central front line after the hosts scored their early goal, and the contest's first half ended 1-0 without any more clear looks for either side.

The Thunder then delivered a sucker-punch to their Top 15 rivals by scoring the equalizing goal just one minute after the restart. A Wheaton throw-in made its way to Timmy Jones, who floated a tasty cross from the left side of the box into the penalty area, where the waiting Grant Roney timed his jump to perfection to steer home his first goal of the campaign via a sharp header. This goal gave the underdog visitors a noticeable momentum boost, and they fashioned a pair of corner kicks for themselves in the following minutes as the North Central defense started to creak. In the 66th minute, the game was turned on its head when Wheaton pulled in front by scoring off of their second shot on target for the night. Roney turned provider, collecting the ball at the top-right area of the NCC box and finding the run of Pryse Anderson, who showed why he was named the CCIW Offensive Player of the Week by stealing in behind his Cardinal marker to poke home his ninth goal of the season. The go-ahead goal conjured up images of Anderson's late winner at #6 North Park last year and stunned the Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium crowd, who were hoping to see their side earn an 11th victory of the season.

Wheaton understandably sat deeper in defense after taking the lead in an attempt to protect their slender advantage, and it was North Central's turn to find a response. The visitors' task of seeing the game out was further complicated when a red card was shown to Wheaton with 14 minutes left to play. But the Thunder back line held firm, and with the help of some wayward finishing by the Cardinals' attackers, it looked as though Wheaton were set to make the short drive home with a full share of the spoils. But the hosts were determined not to suffer their first home loss of the year and finally found an equalizer of their own with a single minute remaining on the clock. A whipped ball to the back post proved too much for the Wheaton defensive unit to properly deal with, and a clean header found the bottom corner to deny the Thunder a famous road win. But Wheaton could still take pride in holding their highly-ranked opponents to a draw and becoming the first side to avoid defeat in Naperville this season.

The Cardinals out-shot their visitors by a margin of 11 on Wednesday night, but the Thunder were far more clinical in front of goal, scoring from two of their three attempts in the match. North Central posted seven corner kicks to Wheaton's three, while a 21-foul game saw six yellow cards and one dismissal issued.

Reigning conference defensive player of the week Mason Escalante did not need to be as busy as he was in Wheaton's shutout win over Illinois Wesleyan, tallying just two saves this evening. Grant Roney played a starring role from the bench for the Thunder, bagging his first goal and earning an assist to ignite the visitors' second-half comeback. Pryse Anderson scored from his only shot attempt in the game, while Timmy Jones picked up his third assist in 2023, a joint team-best total.

Fresh off of a positive result on Wednesday, the Wheaton men will hope to add to their CCIW road successes when they face their other suburban neighbors in their next contest. The Thunder are set to visit the Elmhurst Bluejays for an 11 AM kickoff on Saturday.