ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings women's soccer team was defeated for the first time in conference play on Wednesday, falling at home to the Wheaton Thunder by a score of 3-1.

The Vikings were on the receiving end of a high volume of shots from the Thunder in the opening half, seeing a 10-2 disparity in that category. The Augie defense held strong through the first 45 minutes, keeping Wheaton off the scoreboard to bring a 0-0 tie into halftime. Janey Castoe collected five of her seven saves in the opening frame to keep the score deadlocked. 

Wheaton got on the board first just over 10 minutes into the second half and quickly followed it up with two more scores within four minutes of each other in the 65th and 69th minute. Augie cut the deficit to two less than a minute after the third Thunder goal as a header into the back of the net from Samira Khobdeh off a corner from Allison Gibeau made it a 3-1 game. Wheaton held another big advantage in shots in the second half, posting a 12-2 differential. Kierstyn Rogers notched two saves for Augie in 15 minutes of action in net.

Khobdeh led the Vikings with two shots on the night, both on goal, while Liesl Whitener and Jayde Speight also tallied one each.

With the loss, Augustana drops to 10-3-3 on the season and 3-1-2 in conference action. The team will be back in action Saturday at home vs. Grinnell.