Wheaton College men win CCIW Championship with a 3-0 victory against Millikin
Wheaton, Ill.- Cold temperatures couldn't dampen the celebration at Wheaton College's Joe Bean Stadium on Friday night. Wheaton honored seniors Ryan Seager, Dan Pavlak, Connor Rice, Jason Bhatta and Jason Lollar at halftime and then capped their Senior Night by celebrating their second CCIW Championship in the past three years following a 3-0 victory over Millikin.
Wheaton (14-3-2, 6-0-1) outshot Millikin 33-6 on the night and owned a 15-2 advantage in shots on goal. Wheaton also held a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Ryan Seager worked 72:05 in goal for the Thunder making two saves and not allowing a goal. Derek Babb worked the final 17:55, finishing the clean sheet. Daniel Sinclair was in the net for all 90 minutes for Millikin (5-12-0, 1-6-0), making 12 saves and allowing three goals.
Noah Anthony set up Wheaton's first goal of the night a beautiful pass that hit #Adam Blackman# in stride behind the Millikin back line. Blackman's first attempt went off the post but he rounded and promptly finished his second shot to put Wheaton ahead 1-0.
Later in the first half, Blackman took a pass in traffic from Josh Clark and volleyed the ball through the Big Blue defense and into the net to give Wheaton a 2-0 lead at the 26:04 mark, a lead they would hold until halftime.
Wheaton plenty of quality scoring opportunities thwarted, but was able to convert on his best opportunity of the night and finish a Josh Clark assist to account for the final score of 3-0.
With the victory, Wheaton wraps up their first undefeated and untied regular season since 1998, going 7-0-0 at Joe Bean Stadium. The last time Wheaton went unbeaten and unequaled for a whole season, including the playoffs, was 1977.
The win also locks up home field advantage for the Thunder throughout the upcoming CCIW Tournament. Wheaton will host a CCIW Semifinal on Wednesday night, October 31 at 7 PM against either Carthage or North Central. North Park will face Illinois Wesleyan in the other Semifinal.
