Wheaton (Ill.) Wins Second Consecutive Championship

Thunder complete second straight undefeated season by beating Messiah

Nov. 24, 2007

By Woody Wommack

Special to CSTV.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. - The Wheaton (Ill.) women's soccer team successfully completed its second straight undefeated season by defeating the Messiah College Falcons 1-0 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon. The victory gave Wheaton its third Division III national championship in the last four seasons.

The only goal of the game came just before halftime when sophomore midfielder Jami Herrmann capitalized on loose ball inside of Messiah's box, putting a shot just to the left of the outreached arms of Falcons' goalie Brindley Beckwith.  

The Thunder controlled the game from the opening kick, using an up-tempo offensive attack to wear down Messiah.

For the game, the Thunder took 18 shots, including seven on goal, to just nine total shots for the Falcons.

Wheaton head coach Pete Felske said that this year's championship means a little more, especially since his team was playing with a target on its back all season.

"To win two in a row is very difficult, but to get two in a row and go undefeated with people gunning at you every game, that's very difficult to do," Felske said. "I tell this team every week to play their best because that's the one game the other team wants to win all year."  

Early in the second half it looked as if Wheaton would win comfortably as their fired shot after shot at Beckwith. But the Falcons defense continued to keep Wheaton from adding to its lead behind five second-half saves.

The best chance for Messiah to tie the game came in the 88th minute when sophomore midfielder Emily Cope hit a blistering shot from 20 yards out toward the right side of Thunder goalkeeper Kristen Eggert, but Eggert made a diving save to clinch the victory for Wheaton.

"My focus was pretty intent on that ball the whole way in," Eggert said. "I knew that all the girls around me were working so hard to keep that zero so I really wanted to keep it as well."

The Florida heat definitely had its effect on the game as both teams made multiple substitutions.

"We were very tired," said Wheaton senior Bethany Barton. "Luckily Messiah was tired too."

One interesting side note to the game was the on field battle between twin sisters Kari Klynstra of Wheaton and Kacie Klynstra of Messiah. The two juniors had never squared off against each other, but said playing against her sister didn't affect her focus on the game.

"Once you step on the field it's just like any other game," Kari Klynstra said. "You're just playing against another opponent, you're with your team, but as soon as the games over, she's still my sister first. We knew going into college that when we both picked schools with good soccer traditions that there was a chance we'd play each other and were both prepared for it."

While the twin-sister battle may not have distracted from the game, a high number of foul calls did. For the game a total of 27 fouls were called, including 18 on Wheaton.

The victory for Wheaton meant that eight seniors had finished their college careers with three NCAA national championships and one NCAA runner-up trophy.

"I think getting the three is something to be proud of but the thing I'm most excited about is just how the team stepped up this year as a whole team," Barton said. "We have a number of freshmen and each one just brought something different to the table."

Barton also said the victory was the only way she envisioned ending her career.

"To go 27-0 in your final season, you can't really ask for a better way to go out," Barton said. "The adversity we had to overcome with every team gunning for us and the way the team came together, I couldn't be more proud."