Wheaton Men's Soccer

With the arrival of autumn in Wheaton, the Men’s Soccer team returns to Joe Bean Stadium for another season below the lights on College Ave.
As one of Wheaton’s most heavily attended sports, the Men’s Soccer team will have their work cut out for them with the loss of two seniors on the roster this year. Senior defender Marshall West and senior midfielder Cedric Kamaleson will not be returning to Joe Bean Stadium, adding to the already significant number of graduates from last year’s team that will require the underclassmen on the team to step up.
Third year Head Coach Jake Declute is coming off a solid season and continues to boast an impressive home record. This year the team hopes to utilize some young talent and develop new, exciting players in order to top last year’s .500 win percentage, unleashing juniors Elliot Paul and Andrew Wade on the pitch for a scoring frenzy.
Sophomore midfielder Jack Stradinger said, “All of us worked very hard in the off season.”
The soccer team also begins this season with solemn hearts after last year’s tragic hammer throw incident in which Ethan Roser passed away. Rarely must a team rally from such a difficult “season” as the spring of 2017, but the Thunder do not struggle alone, but with the help Christ’s love and mercy.
The campus rallied around the team to grant profound support and love last spring, and this fall they will begin pushing toward their goal to be CCIW champs.
Stradinger said, “Our [the team’s] greatest strength is that we are not a team, we are a family.”
The Thunder begin the season with the Bob Baptista invitational at home on Sept. 1 against St. Olaf College, and Joe Bean Stadium is expected to be overflowing as always with new freshmen and upperclassmen alike.