KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Wheaton (Ill.) is headed to its fifth national championship game in program history with a 3-2 double-overtime victory against SUNY Oneonta in Friday afternoon's National Semifinal. Wheaton will advance to face either Tufts or Ohio Wesleyan at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at the Swope Soccer Village. Wheaton improves to 22-3 on the season and equals a season-high 10-game win streak which is tied for the sixth best streak in program history. Oneonta ends its season with a record of 21-1-2. Wheaton is now 5-1 all-time in national semifinal contests.
Wheaton took the early lead on Friday when Adam Blackman was tackled from behind in the box and Wheaton was awarded a penalty kick at the 15:19 mark. Noah Anthony confidently finished inside the right post to give Wheaton the 1-0 lead. The Red Dragons answered midway through the first half with a span of two goals in three minutes. In the 30th minute, Oneonta's Jake Sutherland took a pass over the top of the Thunder backline and negotiated around the on-rushing Matt Paprocki for the easy finish to tie the game. In the 32nd minute, a failed clearance by the Thunder led to a Anthony Passiatore's first goal of the season to give the Red Dragons a 2-1 lead they would take to hafltime.Early in the second half, Adam Blackman broke free and scored similar to Oneonta's first goal to tie the gam eat 2-2 in the 52nd minute. Oneonta looked to have retaken the lead with a few minutes left in regulation only to have the goal waved off. After a scoreless first overtime, Marshall Hollingsworth sped around the Red Dragon defense and was hauled down just outside the box earning a free kick that led to a Thunder corner kick. Noah Anthony's corner kick was driven to the far post and perfectly found the running Stephen Golz, who headed the ball into the net to advance the Thunder to tomorrow's title game.
