CCIW

[Flying Dutch Fan]

When I saw on the Vikings roster last week that both Jacob Carter and Hadyn Beal were from Holland, I was curious as to why neither went to Hope. Carter saw some time in the last two scrimmages off the bench; I can't remember if Beal did or not.

Nice article, FDF, but Lee Lamberts of the Holland Sentinel really needs to acquaint himself with the fact that it's North Park University, not North Park College. The school changed its name a full decade and a half ago. NPU has played Hope fairly often in various sports over the last fifteen years -- including the first round of last season's D3 soccer tourney -- so there's no excuse for him to mess this up. Heck, the photo that accompanies his story even shows Hadyn Beal wearing a North Park University t-shirt.

Unfortunately, that error is minuscule compared to the typical errors that occur on a daily basis in our local rag.

[Gregory Sager]

The national preseason poll is out. Wheaton is #24, North Park is #28. Other teams from the region that received votes include #7 Dominican, #14 Calvin, #17 Wash U, and #35 Chicago.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU opened its season this evening with a 1-0 victory at Aurora. Freshman forward Jonas Pettersson scored in the seventeenth minute off of an assist from Kris Grahn. The Spartans only managed one shot on goal for the game.

NPU is next in action on Sunday night, when #7 Dominican comes to town for the Vikings' home opener.

[Gotberg]

NPU opened its season this evening with a 1-0 victory at Aurora. Freshman forward Jonas Pettersson scored in the seventeenth minute off of an assist from Kris Grahn. The Spartans only managed one shot on goal for the game.

NPU is next in action on Sunday night, when #7 Dominican comes to town for the Vikings' home opener.

Pettersen didn't play after the 20th minute.  Was he injured?

[Gregory Sager]

NPU opened its season this evening with a 1-0 victory at Aurora. Freshman forward Jonas Pettersson scored in the seventeenth minute off of an assist from Kris Grahn. The Spartans only managed one shot on goal for the game.

NPU is next in action on Sunday night, when #7 Dominican comes to town for the Vikings' home opener.

Pettersen didn't play after the 20th minute.  Was he injured?

I'm not sure. I was busy umping a softball game, so I wasn't in Aurora last night. John Born shuttled a lot of people in and out of the lineup last night, so I'm not jumping to any conclusions.

[IdahoSoccer]

Loras 2 Wheaton 1 - Wheaton was moved into the top 25 and Loras moved out since the final poll from last year. Lets see tonight if that was a good move by D3Soccer? DuHawks handled North Central last night while Wheaton squeaked by Covenant, I think Loras is too tough

[d3fan1]

I'm surprised no one has commented on the North Park win over Dominican. Did north park look really good, or is Dominican over rated or both?

[markerickson]

I missed the first Viking goal; Sager told me it was a beautiful play.  BU had a couple shots miss wide in the first half and the Vikings clearly dominated the second half.  On the second goal, the keeper blocked a rocket, gave up a rebound, and a Swede buried the ball from very close.  I didn't see anything on the field that would warrant a top ten ranking.  Plus, All-American Grahn sat nearly all of the second half, and All-Conference Lindmark did not play at all.

[Jim Matson]

Well, you know how those preseason polls go... a lot of last year in the mix!

[coffeeshoptheologian]

Loras 2 Wheaton 1 - Wheaton was moved into the top 25 and Loras moved out since the final poll from last year. Lets see tonight if that was a good move by D3Soccer? DuHawks handled North Central last night while Wheaton squeaked by Covenant, I think Loras is too tough

Score was other way around, Wheaton 2 - Loras 1. I didn't see the game, but here's the Wheaton article: http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/9/3/MSOC_loras.aspx?path=msoccer.

[Gregory Sager]

It was an interesting match on Sunday. Dominican actually had a lot more good looks at the net than did North Park. The Stars got off 16 shots to NPU's 6, although NPU netminder Tim Ahlberg was only called upon to make one save all evening. The Stars headed a couple of balls over the crossbar, and shot a couple of ten-yarders wide that appeared to be very good goal chances. Dominican also had eight corner kicks, plus a number of short-range foul kicks and a few throw-ins deep in the NPU end that were tantamount to corner kicks, since a couple of the Stars have some prodigious throwing arms -- but it was all for naught, as the Park's improved size and strength this year keeps opponents from getting position in the box on set pieces.

NPU, however, made the most of its own chances on offense. The first goal was a thing of beauty, a behind-the-back touch pass in the 20th minute from freshman Johann Pettersson to a streaking sophomore Robin Hals that resulted in a breakaway and an authoritative shot into the back of the net. The second came off of a rebound in the 63rd minute, as Kris Grahn's point-blank shot rocketed off of the chest of the DU keeper and Pettersson was there to put it away.

As Mark indicated, the most impressive thing about the win was that NPU was shorthanded in the playmaker department. Of NPU's four returning All-CCIW first-teamers, only Ahlberg played the entire match. Filip Lindmark didn't even dress, and won't until he's fully healthy; Sehten Hills did dress, but spent the entire match on the bench; and Grahn played sparingly, as he nurses a minor injury as well. That's the most impressive thing about this NPU team: It's incredibly deep. I have to believe that there aren't a lot of sides out there that could be missing three All-Conference first-team players and still manage to beat a top ten team, 2-0.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU beat Concordia IL last night, 5-1, but it could've been 10-1 if that's what the Vikings had wanted. John Born subbed early and often, playing a whopping 28 players in all -- and he's still missing a few injured starters, to boot. Lots of picturesque goals last night, although the most impressive one -- a tight-angle shot from the left by freshman Sigurd Pryser after his fancy footwork had completely deked out the defender, a shot whose narrow angle was the same as Patrick Kane's Stanley-Cup-winning goal a year ago for the Blackhawks -- got called back due to a phantom foul (keeper interference).

Last night's fun and games against a totally overmatched opponent will be long forgotten on Saturday afternoon, however, as UW-Oshkosh -- the team that knocked NPU out of the NCAA tourney last fall and reached the Final Four -- comes to Hedstrand Field to take on the Vikings in their most serious test to date. The Titans (1-1) return seven starters from last season's 20-1-3 side that didn't lose a match until the national semifinals against eventual champion Messiah.

[Gotberg]

North Park and U-W Oshkosh ended 1-1.  Probably a fair result.  Grahn did hit the post twice for NP.

Sebastian Pilat did not play as I believe I overheard he had an exam today.  Filip Lindmark was dressed and participated in pre-game drills, but did not play.

[Gregory Sager]

Yep, Pilat had a choice: Take the state exam for education yesterday, or take it on the first day of the NCAA tourney. Given NPU's expectations for this season, it was a no-brainer as to which day to take the exam.

UWO scored early, and NPU had to play from behind for most of the match. I was very impressed by UWO's passing ability, more so than last season when I saw them play the Vikings in the second round of the NCAAs. The Titans returned seven starters from that Final Four team, and you could see just how completely in sync with each other they are; almost every pass, especially in the first half before NPU started to physically wear them down a bit, was foot-to-foot. The Park has the better players, but at this point I'd say that UWO plays better as a team. The good thing about that for NPU is that the Vikes can continue to grow into their chemistry and mental synchronization.

Very defensive match; only five shots on goal all day (I think; the stats aren't up yet, but I remember taking a look at them up in the booth late in the second half).

I asked John Born afterwards if this tie was one of those kiss-your-sister ties; he said it was more of a kiss-your-attractive-second-cousin sort of tie. That seems like an apt description; while NPU expects to beat every opponent that it faces, tying one of the premier powers in D3 on a day when your lineup is short-handed seems like at least a satisfactory conclusion.

NPU's next match is Tuesday evening at home against Born's alma mater, Concordia WI (2-2).

[Gotberg]

tonight is the second night I am trying to watch some of the NPU home game on my computer, but the service is awful again.  I have to reload the game every 3 minutes because the video freezes.

For the school's sake, I hope the service is free.