The Women’s Soccer team was the 15th ranked team in the NCAA preseason poll. They traveled to Maryland this past weekend to compete in the Salisbury University Classic where they earned two back to-back wins. The first, a 2-0 victory in a shortened match due to lightning against St. Thomas (Minn.). Midfielder Bailey Wolf scored the first goal against the Tommies, assisted by her fellow midfielder Jensen Ellis.
The second goal was scored 10 minutes later by Sara Bakke, assisted by forward Isabelle Oliver. The second victory was against hosting team Salisbury University. Two early goals were scored by seniors Maddie Schoenbeck and Chelsea Gnan both assisted by freshman midfielder Aeva Graber.
In minute 76, senior Anne Jekel ended the Seagulls’s hopes of winning with a third goal for Wheaton. Freshman Lauren Ketchum earned two shutouts and “defending the goal” for the Thunder all weekend. The Women’s Soccer Team will appear next Friday night as hosts for the Bob Baptista. Sophomore Sarah Tomich was named CCIW Defensive Player of the Week for her performance this past weekend.
The Wheaton Men’s Soccer team opened up regular season play with a stunning shutout victory of 5-0 over Benedictine. Shane Kopplin put Wheaton on the scoreboard with a left-footed strike around minute 12 of play. He was followed by a goal from Austin Pack, assisted by Jaxon Hulse, in 38:27 and a steal and a goal from AJ Moyes at 48:32. The deal was sealed by second half goals by Matt Olson, assisted by Michael Martens, and Chase Gwynn, assisted by Jeremy Jasperse. Hasten Biddlecome made one save in the goal around minute 67 to earn shutout victory for the Thunder.
The Thunder was scheduled to play the Battlin’ Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan last Saturday Night. The match began and lightning was detected in the area just three minutes and 11 seconds into the contest, so the match was canceled around an hour later. The game was not rescheduled.
The no. 18 ranked Wheaton Thunder Football team earned a season opener 32-7 victory over Monmonth. The Thunder had an impressive 16 first-quarter points to take the early lead over the opposition. Wheaton gained 19 first downs while the Fighting Scots were only able to move the chains twice. The Thunder also dominated the time of possession and total yardage, holding Monmouth to only 54 yards of offense.
The Thunder football team is off until they travel on Sept. 15 to play Illinois Wesleyan University. Junior defensive lineman Patrick O’Connell was named this week’s CCIW Defensive Player of the Week for his performance this past weekend.
The Wheaton Women’s Tennis team opened its 2018-19 season with a 9-0 victory at home against Edgewood. Wheaton hosts Luther College on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
On Friday, the Thunder won at No. 1 singles 6-0, 6-1, led by Emma Westwick. Maintaining momentum for the Thunder, Sara Magnuson earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory in No. 2 singles and Claire Browning followed suit with a 6-0, 4-6, 10-3 win in No. 3 singles. In addition, Claire
Dibble won the No. 4 singles matchup 7-6, 7-5 with NicoleFreeman pulling in a victory at No. 5 singles with a final score of 6-0, 6-3. In a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6 doubles, freshman Bethany Hoogerheide gained her first collegiate win.
The Thunder secured a 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles with the team-up of Browning and Dibble. Magnuson and Freeman dominated with an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles and Westwick and Hoogerheide were right behind them with an 8-2 victory in No. 3 doubles. Saturday afternoon brought a 9-0 victory in a sweep of Luther College for the second consecutive time.
Currently, Wheaton’s standing is now 2-0, and next weekend the Thunder will travel to Wisconsin for conference matches at Carthage College and Carroll University. For the No. 1 singles, Emma Westwick gained a win for the Thunder and Sara Magnuson also brought back a victory at No. 2 singles.
Coming up right behind them, Browning, Dibble, Freeman and Hoogerheide all carried back victories in their respective singles matches. The doubles team of Dibble and Browning won 8-0, followed by the Freeman and Magnuson team with an 8-4 victory and the Hoogerheide and Magnuson team who brought home an 8-4 win in their respective doubles lineups.
This weekend, the Wheaton Women’s Golf team placed 12th at the Carthage Shootout on the Border as their opening to their competitive season. The Thunder shot a round of 372 on Friday and followed with around of 385 on Saturday in the 17-team field. The team was lead by Marin Halverson who tied for 13th overall.
On Friday, Halvorsen opened with a round of 84 and led the Thunder by turning in a round of 82 on Saturday afternoon to finish at 166. Madeline Birkbichler finished at 184, carding a 90-94, followed by Amanda Miller on Friday who finished at 203 with a 92 and second round score of 111.
In addition, Karissa Raschke finished a shot back with 204, followed by Maeji Brown at 227. The team title was won by Carthage with a two-round score of 649, followed in the team standings by St. Mary’s (Ind.) at 652, UW-Whitewater at 656 and Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois Wesleyan ‘B’ at 664 and 675.
Last Friday evening the Wheaton Volleyball team opened its 2018 season with a 3-0 victory in the Ripon College Quadrangular against Ripon College. The Thunder won three consecutive sets. The opening set was won in 25-18 and the second in 25-16. They then sealed their victory with a 25-22 win in the third set. Madeline Moore contributed to the Thunder’s victory with 12 kills and six digs. Freshman Colleen Smith tallied six kills, eight digs and had a team-high four service aces. Kelly Thornton had nine kills with 17 assists and Deborah Smith led in blocks for the match with three assisted blocks and one solo block.
Alecia Funk distributed 14 assists. Senior Jess Bosse led the game in digs, tallying 19. The Wheaton Thunder Volleyball team earned two more 3-0 victories on Saturday — the final day of the Ripon College Quadrangular. “Wheaton opened Saturday’s play with a 3-0 win (28-26, 25-19, 25-16) against Marian University (Wis.), and the Thunder closed out the day with a 3-0 victory (25-11, 25-14, 25-9) versus Finlandia University.” (Wheaton College Athletics) Freshman Colleen Smith earned All-Tournament honors for her performance over the weekend. “Wheaton’s 3-0 start to the 2018 campaign marks the first time in more than 20 years that the volleyball program has a 3-0 start to the season, and is the first time under the NCAA’s current match structure (best-three-of-five)” (Wheaton College Athletics). The
Wheaton Thunder Volleyball team, now 4-0, opened its Wheaton Tri-Match on Tuesday with a 3-0 victory in King Arena against UW-Oshkosh (3-2). The Thunder’s opening match victory against the UW-Oshkosh Titans was a 25-21, 25-12, 25-18. Wheaton senior Jess Bosse was named this week’s CCIW Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for her outstanding performance.