The Wheaton (Ill.) Thunder men’s soccer team made it four-straight Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season championships in a row Saturday night with a 4-1 win over North Park. It’s something that hasn’t been done since 2000.
The victory also secures home-field advantage for the Thunder throughout this week’s CCIW Tournament. The defending NCAA Division III Tournament runners-up dominated the second half action against North Park, scoring three unanswered goals. Wheaton (BR-18) improved to 12-3-2 overall and 6-1-0 in CCIW action.
Wheaton takes on fourth-seeded North Central in a CCIW semifinal match Wednesday night at home. Second-seeded Carthage will host No.3-seed Elmhurst in the other semifinal. The top remaining seed will host the CCIW Tournament Championship on Saturday night with the winner securing the CCIW’s automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Wheaton got on the board first when Marshall Hollingsworth finding the back of the net in the 22nd minute on a pass from Andrew Wade. North Park tied the game minutes later, which is how it stayed until after halftime.
But the second half was all Thunder. Wheaton got goals from Max Carey, Noah Gulley and Mitchell Grove.
Hollingsworth, a returning first-team All-American, has now scored a goal in each of the last six games and recorded at least one point in all but four games this season.
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