Decatur, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's soccer team headed south for its second road match of this week on Saturday night, traveling to Millikin University for a key conference contest. The Thunder scored twice in the second half of tonight's game to secure a 2-1 win that avenged last season's costly defeat in Decatur and moved Wheaton into first place in the
CCIW standings. After their third-straight victory, the Thunder's record now stands at 9-5-1 for the season and 5-1 in conference play.
The final score may have been reached in tough fashion, with Wheaton netting both of its goals in the last 25 minutes and needing to withstand a late Millikin comeback attempt, but the box score statistics underline the Thunder's superiority on the night. The visitors out-shot their central Illinois hosts by a margin of 14-11 and put half of their attempts on target compared to just three efforts on goal by the hosts. Wheaton also took seven more corner kicks than Millikin did at a 12-5 count and enjoyed 56% of the possession on Saturday. The Big Blue were shown both of the game's yellow card cautions, but only 13 total fouls were called in a clean meeting.
Kyle Johnson broke the deadlock this evening with his ninth goal of the campaign, moving him into a tie for first place in the CCIW in scoring and outright first in total points with 21 on the year so far. The junior attacker led all players with two shots on target in Saturday's match, and he was joined on this figure by
Noah Penner.
Timmy Jones scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal from his only effort of the night, while
Garrett Belcher collected his second assist of the week on Johnson's opener.
Mason Louth and
Luke Vander Kolk each contributed one shot on target, as well, and
Mason Escalante made two saves on the way to earning his second victory this week in the Wheaton net.
With the memory of last year's disappointing result at Millikin undoubtedly fresh in the minds of Wheaton's players tonight, the guests began the game on the front foot and posted four shots and as many corner kicks in the opening ten minutes. Despite this early flurry of attacking momentum, it took 28 minutes for either side to put an attempt on goal, before Johnson finally drew the first save from the opposition keeper. Two more corners followed, as well as Penner's first shot on frame, but the Thunder could not find the opening goal they craved. Both of Escalante's saves came in a 60-second span past the half-hour mark, with Millikin putting their first two efforts on target. Vander Kolk and Penner both came close to giving Wheaton the lead shortly before halftime, but the Big Blue's keeper stood tall and ensured that there was no score heading into the intermission.
Louth needed just three minutes after the restart to test the opposing shot-stopper with his look at goal, but the match settled into a cagey stalemate in the following minutes with neither side willing to risk too much in attack. The breakthrough finally arrived in the 65th minute when a Wheaton throw-in sequence on the left wing eventually made its way to the other side of the Millikin penalty area, where Belcher arrived to set up Johnson with a smart sideways lay-off. The goalkeeper and recovering defenders could not stop the pass across goal or successfully limit Johnson's movement to reach it, and the striker swept the ball into the bottom right corner to push Wheaton in front.
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After two corner kick opportunities for either side following this go-ahead score went begging, the Thunder found a two-goal cushion in the 81st minute thanks to Jones' long-range attempt. Penner kicked off the sequence with an acrobatic effort that struck the post, and a follow-up attempt was blocked out to the top of the box, where the junior Jones wasted no time in stepping into a first-touch rocket from 20 yards out to power the ball into the upper left side of the net.
(VIDEO) Wheaton did not have much time to celebrate this impressive strike or the win it likely sealed, as the Big Blue immediately halved the deficit with a clever turn and finish on the right side of the box. But the Thunder were determined to come home with three hard-fought points and allowed their hosts just one more shot in the final eight minutes in a solid lockdown defensive effort.
After picking up back-to-back wins away from home, the Wheaton men's team will return to Joe Bean Stadium next week to take on Carroll University in a match that has significant implications for the conference regular season title race. Kick-off between the Thunder and the Pioneers is set for 7 PM on Wednesday.
