Wheaton, Ill. -- The Thunder men's soccer team returned to Bean Stadium on Tuesday night for a special kind of non-conference matchup. Wheaton hosted the University of Chicago Maroons, last season's national champions, for their annual contest. This marked the first time that the men's soccer program welcomed the reigning national title winners to campus since Wheaton won the championship themselves in 1997. The visiting Maroons played like champions in Tuesday's game, running out 4-1 winners in a one-sided affair. Wheaton's loss to the sixth-ranked team in the country drops their overall record to 4-3 on the year.
UChicago's star forward Ryan Yetishefsky bagged two goals in the first 14 minutes to quickly give the guests a firm grip on the game. While the first strike was aided by some sloppiness in the Thunder defense, his second tally was a slick team move produced by a high-talent squad. Any hopes of a second-half comeback by the hosts were essentially snuffed out six minutes after the intermission when the Maroons extended their lead via another classy sequence and long-range finish. A converted penalty kick halfway through the second frame wrapped up the scoring for the away side.
Caleb Davis registered his first Wheaton goal with 11 minutes left to play to deny the Maroons a clean sheet.
The Thunder's late goal marked their only pair of shots on target for the contest.
Kyle Johnson was awarded an assist when his strike from the top of the box was batted away by the Chicago goalkeeper but not secured and Davis snuck in to tap home the rebound. The Maroons' 13 shots on frame meant that Wheaton goalkeeper
Mason Escalante had another busy evening, tying his career-high mark of nine saves that he registered just last weekend in the team's 2-0 win at Loras. Both teams earned four corner kicks, and despite plenty of physical play, only 13 fouls were awarded in total and no cards were brandished by the head official.
The Thunder will look to get back to winning ways on Saturday night when they travel to St. Louis to face another UAA side, the Washington University Bears.
