Wheaton, Ill. -- After kicking off the 2025 season and Bob Baptista Invitational with an impressive 4-2 win on Friday night, the Wheaton men's soccer team returned to Joe Bean Stadium on Saturday for the second of its two matches in the annual competition. The Thunder matched up against Colorado College this evening following the latter's 3-0 victory on Friday, and the tournament hosts played out an eventful 2-2 draw against the 20th-ranked team in the country to round out the weekend slate. Wheaton is now 1-0-1 on the young season, and the visiting Tigers end their first weekend of the campaign with the same record after Saturday's result.

Tonight's matchup of the day one winners got off to a relatively slow start, with an effort from distance by Friday's MVP Luke Vander Kolk proving to be the only attempt on target in the first 15 minutes. But the Thunder broke the deadlock on 20 minutes when a careless turnover in the Colorado College defense was seized upon by Ashur Eshw, who quickly carried the ball forward and drove a low effort from 20 yards into the bottom left corner of the Tigers' net for his first Wheaton goal. (VIDEO) The reigning SCAC regular season champions needed only three minutes to find a response, however, and Colorado leveled the score back up at 1-1 with a similarly clinical strike from the top of the box into the lower left quadrant.

Wheaton would reclaim its advantage five minutes later, though, as a Mason Louth direct free kick attempt on goal was parried into the path of Cooper Falling (pictured below). The sophomore arrived in the box just at the right time and calmly lifted his one-touch rebound finish into the roof of the net to make it 2-1 in the hosts' favor. (VIDEO) 
The Tigers pushed for an equalizer in the last 15 minutes of the half but could only force one save out of Wheaton's Jack Krahel, and the Thunder held a narrow lead heading into the intermission.

Contrary to Chapman's bright start to the second period in Friday's fixture, Wheaton claimed the initiative in the first few minutes of the second half this time and created multiple goalscoring chances in an attempt to double its lead. But the Tigers' defensive unit held firm and allowed Colorado to eventually develop some offensive momentum at the other end. After a couple of necessary saves by Krahel, Wheaton posted its last shot on target of the night with 19 minutes remaining, as Vander Kolk again went close to putting his name on the scoresheet. But the decisive moment of the contest arrived in the 78th minute when an impressive dribble down the right side resulted in a layoff into the box and a tidily steered shot into the corner of the goal to draw Colorado College even for a second time and deny Wheaton's hopes of a ranked win. Riding the momentum of their late equalizer, the visitors pushed hard for a dramatic winner and drew a pair of saves in the last ten minutes, but the Thunder successfully held on for a tie in an exciting end to the weekend competition.

The guests enjoyed slender advantages in total shots taken and attempts on target on Saturday, while both sides posted five corner kicks and Wheaton edged the possession battle at 53-47% across the 90 minutes. While there were no incidents that boiled over and no ejections, tonight's matchup was a chippy affair, with the head referee calling 24 fouls and issuing seven total yellow card cautions.

Six different Thunder players put a shot on goal on Saturday, led by Vander Kolk's two attempts on frame. Eshw and Falling both opened their accounts for the season, while Louth picked up an assist for his role in Falling's goal. Krahel had a busier outing than he did in Friday's win and was called upon to make five saves and command his penalty area in the closing stretch of the match.

After emerging from the opening weekend with a zero in the loss column and plenty to reflect on from two intriguing matches, the Wheaton team has the midweek off and will head west next weekend for two games in Tacoma, Washington. The Thunder are scheduled to meet Pacific Lutheran University on Friday afternoon before facing University of Puget Sound next Saturday.