Wheaton, Ill. -- The Wheaton women's soccer team stayed at Joe Bean Stadium for its third-consecutive home match on Wednesday evening with the red hot North Central Cardinals serving as tonight's opposition. The Thunder faced a difficult matchup against a team that had won its last five matches, including a 7-0 demolition of Elmhurst in their CCIW opener, and received votes to be ranked in this week's United Soccer Coaches Division III poll. North Central opened the scoring after just two minutes and added three more goals shortly after halftime to notch a decisive road victory. Wheaton's record drops to 2-6-3 as a result of tonight's setback, and the Thunder now sit at 1-1 in conference play.

The visiting Cardinals came into Wednesday's local showdown having already scored an impressive 49 goals this season, and their sharp attacking form continued as they found the net on their first shot attempt of the game. After an opening 11 minutes that saw the away side firmly on top of proceedings, the Thunder grew into the game, and with the help of Myah Schoolman's quality goalkeeping, they entered the halftime locker room only one goal behind. Wheaton posted two efforts on target in the first 45 minutes, but most of the game was played in the hosts' defensive half of the field.

Any momentum that Wheaton had created as the first half wore on took an early blow after play resumed, with the Cardinals doubling their lead two minutes into the second half. Two more NCC goals in a two-minute period as the clock hit 60 minutes confirmed the win for North Central as their high-powered attack overcame a youthful Thunder defense. Wheaton's best stretch of play in the contest came in the final 20 minutes, as the squad was able to fashion a few looks at goal and North Central was forced to defend for the first extended period on Wednesday. But the Thunder were not successful in spoiling their guests' clean sheet, and the preseason CCIW favorites did their job at both ends of the pitch to secure a statement victory.

North Central fired off an eye-catching 36 shot attempts in the 90 minutes of play and put 20 of those efforts on goal. Wheaton stayed consistent with their season average of 11 shots in the game and posted six shots on target. The Thunder did create four more corner kick opportunities than their visitors from Naperville. 21 fouls were called in total, and each side was shown one yellow card.

Even with the final scoreline, Myah Schoolman was the standout performer for Wheaton this evening. The senior goalkeeper posted a new career-high 14 saves in the match, and that total is a program single-game record in the 21st century. Grace Crowder led the team's attack with two shots on frame, while four of her teammates managed to direct one shot on target each.

Wheaton will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to nearby Elmhurst for the first of four-straight road matches on Saturday. Kick off is scheduled for 1:30 PM.