That�s exactly what happened Saturday night when Wheaton College scored goals off a pair of corner kicks to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 2-1 in the NCAA Division III Central Region women�s championship.

The Thunder scored just 10:38 into the match and scored again with 34:14 left in the second half for a 2-0 advantage. However, Wheaton was forced to survive a frantic final 20 minutes that resulted in a Pointer goal and several close opportunities to tie the match.

�I�m so proud of this team it�s unbelievable,� said Pointers� coach Sheila Miech, whose team finished 18-2 overall with both losses coming to Wheaton on its home field. �They played with so much heart and played so hard down to the end, I really believe we deserved to win this match.�

UW-Stevens Point had consecutive shots bounce off the crossbar with under 20 minutes left from Mickey Jacob and Molly Cady to start the flurry of attacks. The Pointers finally scored � also on a corner kick � with 12:04 left when Jacob headed in a ball from Andrea Oswald to score in her third straight match. It was UW-Stevens Point�s only corner kick attempt of the match, while Wheaton had three opportunities. UW-Stevens Point only allowed 18 corner kick attempts all year in 20 matches and had not given up a goal on any of those chances.

The Pointers had several more chances to tie the match all the way down to the final second when Jacob scooped up a ball out-of-bounds and fired a long throw-in to Cady, whose shot sailed just over the crossbar as the horn sounded.

�For a team to fall behind 2-0 to a team of this caliber and never give up really says something,� Miech said. �I really believed we were going to tie this game and, obviously, our players thought the same way.�

Wheaton controlled the game in the early going, scoring in the first 11 minutes on header by Sarah Kron off a corner kick by Padgett Crown. UW-Stevens Point held the advantage for most of the final 20 minutes of the first half, but was unable to connect on for a tying goal.

The Thunder held control again to start the second half and scored in similar fashion as Katie Shubin headed in a corner by Jenny Fichera. Wheaton finished with a 13-11 advantage in shots, marking the first time this season the Pointers were outshot.

Wheaton is also 18-2 overall and advances to face Scranton (Pa.) in the Division III quarterfinals next weekend. It was just the Pointers� third loss in their last 37 matches.

     �This was a great game and we had a great season,� Miech said. �We fought to the end against an outstanding team and I just couldn�t be prouder of everything we�ve accomplished.�

Score by Halves                1-2-F
Wheaton                             1-1-2
UW-Stevens Point               0-1-1

Scoring
WC - Sarah Kron (Padgett Crown), 10:38
WC - Katie Shubin (Jenny Fichera), 56:46
SP � Mickey Jacob (Andrea Oswald), 77:56

Shots on Goal � Wheaton 13, UWSP 11
Fouls � Wheaton 21, UWSP 12
Goalie Saves � UWSP 6 (Brianna Hyslop) , Wheaton 3 (Brita Nelson)
Corner Kicks � Wheaton 3, UWSP 1