CCIW

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Peder Olsen upon repeating as a USC All-American!

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Peder Olsen and Angel Barriga upon being named to the D3soccer.com All-American team! Olsen, one of only seven repeaters on the team, was named to the first team, while Barriga was named to the second team.

[Gotberg]

Anyone aware of a potential spring season?

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW website says that men's soccer, women's soccer, and football will start playing in March.

There is no word yet about the extent or duration of the season.

[PlaySimple]

The CCIW website says that men's soccer, women's soccer, and football will start playing in March.

There is no word yet about the extent or duration of the season.

You may have posted your comments before the league decided what it is doing but there is some information on the website now.

The schedules are for 5 games only and will not exceed the NCAA 50-percent waiver so that all student-athletes will retain one of their four seasons of participation. I believe that all conferences that have been able to move fall sports to a modified spring schedule have done likewise. Also, all schools with the exception of Wheaton are participating. The CCIW website states that "Games may be classified as scrimmages, exhibitions or countable contests as determined by each institution." Also stated is that "There will be no conference championship or awards in these sports and Campus and conference officials will continue to monitor federal, state, local, and campus conditions and testing availability and will make changes as necessary."

Below are the "schedules." If you notice, there is a range of dates to be played. I assume that the actual dates will be worked out between the individual schools.

https://static.cciw.org/custompages/CCIW_Links/General/Administrative/Future_Schedules/Fall_2020/Spring.2021.MSO.Schedule.pdf

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW website says that men's soccer, women's soccer, and football will start playing in March.

There is no word yet about the extent or duration of the season.

You may have posted your comments before the league decided what it is doing

No, not really. I waited until the league announced the go-ahead for a modified spring season for at least some fall sports, and then I posted that info. What I didn't want to wait for was the actual spring 2021 CCIW men's soccer schedule, so thanks for posting that here.

Also, all schools with the exception of Wheaton are participating.

According to Brett Marhanka's press release on Monday, Wheaton will be competing in CCIW men's soccer this spring, as indicated on the CCIW schedule. Wheaton AD Julie Davis must've let the head coaches of the various fall sports make the call for their own sports; Wheaton football and women's soccer have opted not to play, while Wheaton men's soccer and women's volleyball have chosen to participate.

Below are the "schedules." If you notice, there is a range of dates to be played. I assume that the actual dates will be worked out between the individual schools.

https://static.cciw.org/custompages/CCIW_Links/General/Administrative/Future_Schedules/Fall_2020/Spring.2021.MSO.Schedule.pdf

The use of date ranges rather than specific dates is not only to accommodate the crowded spring schedule of CCIW schools this season -- keep in mind that they're piling this quasi-season for fall sports on top of what they hope to be a normal array of CCIW spring-sports contests -- but to allow for positive Covid tests forcing rearrangement of the schedule at the last minute.

[PlaySimple]

According to Brett Marhanka's press release on Monday, Wheaton will be competing in CCIW men's soccer this spring, as indicated on the CCIW schedule. Wheaton AD Julie Davis must've let the head coaches of the various fall sports make the call for their own sports; Wheaton football and women's soccer have opted not to play, while Wheaton men's soccer and women's volleyball have chosen to participate.

Yeah, that is my bad. A second-hand source had told me that Wheaton has chosen to opt-out of all competition. I did not look at the schedule closely enough to see that that was not the case. I'm wondering what the women feel about that and why the coach and/or AD decided for them not to play.

[Gregory Sager]

Good questions. Over in the CCIW football room, one of the Wheaton broadcasters put forward his theories as to why Wheaton football won't be playing this spring. Speaking as the play-by-play man for NPU women's soccer as well as for NPU men's soccer, I'd like to hear why the Wheaton women's soccer coach opted out on behalf of her team; while the power balance has definitely shifted on the men's side, Wheaton is still the CCIW's premier program on the women's side, so their absence this spring is huge for that sport from a league perspective. But, of course, that's not really a topic for this particular board.

[PlaySimple]

Speaking as the play-by-play man for NPU women's soccer as well as for NPU men's soccer, I'd like to hear why the Wheaton women's soccer coach opted out on behalf of her team; while the power balance has definitely shifted on the men's side, Wheaton is still the CCIW's premier program on the women's side, so their absence this spring is huge for that sport from a league perspective. But, of course, that's not really a topic for this particular board.

You're right. Women's soccer really isn't a topic for this board but I do want to comment on a few items from your post.

You stated "I'd like to hear why the Wheaton women's soccer coach opted out on behalf of her team;"

Wheaton's coach is a man. The 2020 season, had it been contested, would have been his 33rd at Wheaton. He is the 3rd winningest D3 women's soccer coach of all time and the 5th winningest of all divisions.

Wheaton probably is the premier program in the CCIW and the most consistent on a yearly basis but it is by no means a "one team conference." It should be noted that over the past 5 seasons, excluding 2020, of course, Illinois Wesleyan won the CCIW conference tournament in 2016, 2018, & 2019. Wheaton beat IWU by a score of 1-0 in 2015 & 2017. Additionally, in 2014 IWU was an NCAA tournament Final 4 team and in 2015 they finished as a final 8 team. They have also qualified for the NCAA postseason in 9 of the past 10 seasons. Augustana has also been putting together decent teams the past few years and, as a matter of fact, is the team that knocked Wheaton out of the conference tournament in 2019.

Going forward it will be interesting to see if IWU is able to maintain a strong side as the Previous coach, Dave Barrett, went to a D1 program (Fairfield) in 2018. Next year will be the last year of the players that Barrett recruited.

[Gregory Sager]

Speaking as the play-by-play man for NPU women's soccer as well as for NPU men's soccer, I'd like to hear why the Wheaton women's soccer coach opted out on behalf of her team; while the power balance has definitely shifted on the men's side, Wheaton is still the CCIW's premier program on the women's side, so their absence this spring is huge for that sport from a league perspective. But, of course, that's not really a topic for this particular board.

You're right. Women's soccer really isn't a topic for this board but I do want to comment on a few items from your post.

You stated "I'd like to hear why the Wheaton women's soccer coach opted out on behalf of her team;"

Wheaton's coach is a man.

Ah, that's right. Pete Felske. I forgot.

I didn't mean to demean the status of Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana women's soccer; it's just that it's clear that Wheaton is still the top dog on an ongoing basis in that sport, a fact that has long since ceased to be the case on the men's side. That's all.

[Gotberg]

Looking forward to some games this spring!

[markerickson]

North Park hosts seven games while on the road for three with the first game tomorrow at EC.

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

[Gregory Sager]

North Park hosts seven games while on the road for three with the first game tomorrow at EC.

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

It's been called off. No word yet on whether that's a cancellation or a mere postponement.

Also, note that NPU is only playing scrimmages and exhibitions -- or, getting back into the spirit of the beautiful game, I should say "scrimmages and friendlies" -- this spring.

[Gotberg]

Any details from the npu carthage game from anyone?

[Gregory Sager]

It ended in a 2-2 draw. Kris only used his starters for about 25 minutes. I suspect that the same will hold true for this evening's scrimmage against Illinois Wesleyan. As far as North Park is concerned, this spring is all about getting everybody some playing time and tinkering with different lineup configurations.

It's worth pointing out that some of North Park's better players are taking a pandemic gap year and will be on campus in the fall but are thus not on the spring roster. I suspect that there are other programs out there that are in similar situations.

North Park hosts seven games while on the road for three with the first game tomorrow at EC.

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

It's been called off. No word yet on whether that's a cancellation or a mere postponement.

It turned out to be a postponement. The NPU @ EU scrimmage has been rescheduled to April 11 (a week from this coming Sunday).