Defending National Champs Defeat Spartans

AURORA, Ill. September 4, 2007 - The Aurora University women’s soccer team was defeated by the defending Division III national champion Wheaton College Thunder 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon at AU Field. Aurora falls to 0-2-1, while Wheaton improves to 3-0-0 on the season.

The Spartans got the scoring started early when sophomore Kim Knaub found the back of the net in the second minute of play. She was assisted on the goal by junior captain Allison Bailey.

The defending national champions quickly answered to tie the game 1-1 on a goal by Shannon Wilkes just 23 seconds later. And just ten minutes later, the Thunder took the lead on a goal by Sarah Richardson. The unassisted goal turned out to be one of three for the senior forward on the afternoon. That goal was quickly followed up by another goal in order to make the half-time score 3-1 in favor of the Thunder.

The second half started out evenly as the Spartan defense managed to contain the Thunder offense for the first 35 minutes. The two goal game was close up until the 80th minute mark in the second half.

But eventually, Wheaton’s offense overpowered the Spartan defense and they put in two quick goals in the final 10 minutes for a final score of 5-1.