Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's soccer team (5-4-0) hosted Trine University (2-4-2) on Wednesday afternoon at Joe Bean Stadium. Wheaton defeated Trine 3-2 in today's non-conference match.
The host Thunder scored twice in the first half. Trine scored twice in the second half as the guests tied the match lates in the second half. Pryse Anderson recorded his third goal of the of the afternoon on a penalty kick to give Wheaton a 3-2 lead that would be the final result.
 
Anderson and the Thunder controlled much of the pace of the match in the first half. Wheaton had a 7-3 shot advantage in the first 45 minutes, including a 3-1 advantage in shots on goal. Anderson had Wheaton's fifth shot attempt of the match when he collected a rebound off of a ball from Caleb Davis. Anderson put the ball in the lower left portion of the goal to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.

Less than four minutes later, Anderson tallied his second goal in the 24th minute to increase Wheaton's lead to 2-0. A well-placed ball from Nati Hamilton connected with a running Pryse Anderson who had a one-on-one opportunity against Trine goalkeeper Aidan McGonagle and Anderson put the ball past the keeper and into the bottom right section of the goal. The Anderson goal off of the Hamilton assist gave Wheaton a 2-0 lead.
 
Trine picked up momentum in the second half. The guests out-shot Wheaton 11-3 in the final 45 minutes, including a 5-1 edge in shots on goal. Trine's Gavin Hardy scored off of a Francesco Mazzei assist in the 60th minute to cut Wheaton's lead to 2-1. A little less than 20 minutes later Ryan Cote of Trine scored off a Hardy assist to tie the match at 2-2 in the 80th minute. Nearly two minutes later Wheaton had the pressure on Trine and a foul committed by the guests in the penalty area gave Wheaton a penalty kick opportunity. Anderson took the penalty kick, and he deftly placed the ball in the lower left corner of the net to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead with 8:27 remaining in the match. Trine had two shot attempts in the final eight minutes, including one that was stopped by Thunder netminder Mason Escalante with 3:30 left in the contest.

Escalante made four saves, with two goals allowed in 90 minutes of work in the Thunder net. McGonagle recorded one save, allowing three Thunder goals.
Trine out-shot Wheaton 14-10, including a 6-3 edge in shots on goal Trine was awarded seven corner kicks in the match and Wheaton had five.
Wheaton opens CCIW play on Saturday night as the Thunder host Illinois Wesleyan at 7:00 p.m. as part of Wheaton's Homecoming activities.