Wheaton men's soccer earns cciw tournament title

WHEATON, Ill. -- Wheaton College earned the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's (CCIW) automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament in a 3-0 win over Elmhurst in the championship game of the CCIW Tournament Saturday at Wheaton's Joe Bean Stadium.

The NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced Monday, Nov. 5, at 10 a.m. (CST) and will be available at www.ncaasports.com.

The Thunder, coming off a national runner-up appearance in 2006, finish the regular season at 13-6-1 (4-3-0 in the CCIW) while Elmhurst finishes 14-5-2 (6-1-0 in the CCIW).

Ben Theimer got the Thunder on the board at the 35:26 mark of the first half. The score remained 1-0 until Matt Swartz scored off a Steve Poppe assist at 71:43. Strider Elass made an insurance goal at 78:45 for the game's final score.

Elmhurst's Britt Blackwell made six saves for the Bluejays.