CCIW

[thePietist]

Don't look now, but Wheaton looks ready to sweep the conference and get the AQ. Carthage could be a road block, but I predict the young Wheaton squad will come of age after the grueling schedule they played and make to the National tournament with the AQ.

Don't count out the conference tourney.  Anything can happen.

[Gregory Sager]

Anyone have NP v WC results/wrap-up?

NPU made three mistakes in the game. Each one was a bad one, and each one led to a Wheaton goal. The first came early in the first half, when NPU keeper Tim Ahlberg gave up a rebound by failing to catch a shot that hit him in the chest. Wheaton banged home the rebound for a goal. The second came later on in the half when an NPU defenseman whom I won't name let a Wheaton attacker slip past him and a Wheaton midfielder hit the forward with a perfect pass. The forward, however, who had a clear breakaway, lost control of the ball and the attack momentarily appeared to be a missed opportunity for the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance. However, the NPU defenseman tackled him anyway, and since he was in the crease it led to a Wheaton penalty shot. Wheaton banged that one home, too.

The third mistake was one of the most ghastly errors I've ever seen in a soccer match. Own goals I can understand, as they're usually inadvertent. But on this occasion, with the last few minutes of the game ticking down and NPU pressing to tie the game, the Vikings really blew it in a major way. NPU got a free kick in its own end, and everybody cleared out towards the other end except for one NPU defenseman (who, again, shall remain nameless -- but it was a different one than the one whose mistake led to the second goal) and one Wheaton forward who was there for forechecking purpises. Inexplicably, rather than boot it down the field, the defenseman passed the ball over to Ahlberg, who then, equally inexplicably, kicked the ball twenty yards downfield straight to the Wheaton forward, who then had a ridiculously easy lope to the goal for the third Wheaton score.

Wheaton, by contrast, made no defensive mistakes at all. NPU's goal was purely earned on an amazing play by freshman Filip Lindmark -- he weaved through three Wheaton defenders with a breathtaking combination of speed and razzle-dazzle footwork, then placed a shot perfectly into the near side of the net where the Wheaton keeper could not make a play on it. The only mistakes Wheaton made were the aforementioned second yellow card and a couple of offsides on potential second-half breakaways when NPU was pressing to try to tie the game, offsides that really weren't necessary in order for Wheaton to get the odd-man rush. Ultimately, Wheaton didn't need either missed opportunity; NPU did all the work in handing the Wheaties the opportunities necessary for the visitors to win the match.

Wheaton looked every bit the team that has been hardened physically and mentally by the nation's toughest schedule. NPU played Wheaton evenly but made those mistakes that cost it the game.

It was a very disheartening loss in front of such a large and raucous crowd, and one can only hope that the Vikings will get a chance to see Wheaton again in the conference tournament and atone for it.

[Gregory Sager]

Getting to the conference tourney may be easier said than done for NPU, though. The Vikings are a M*A*S*H unit right now. Lindmark sat out last night's match against Berry; I'm not sure about his current health status. Kris Grahn and Sehten Hills both had to leave last night's match against Berry because of leg injuries, and both sat out the second half. Hills could barely walk; it took him about ten minutes to cross from one side of the Holmgren Athletic Complex to the other. Mike Herbst and Hannes Granlund also came up gimpy. John Born basically decided to concede the match early on in the second half, with NPU trailing 1-0, by taking out his starters one-by-one in an attempt to keep any more of them from getting hurt.

NPU has to travel to Augie on Saturday, and Augie has been a thorn in NPU's side on the soccer pitch far too often in the past. I just hope that the Park can get healthy for this one, because a loss could really make things dicey in terms of qualifying for the CCIW tourney.

[Jim Matson]

Even though North Park didn't get it done this time, I hope you all enjoyed the front page story.  A good take on the rivalry, well written by a NPU grad/player.

There is more to this story!

[Gregory Sager]

It's an excellent recap, Jim. Everybody ought to go to the d3soccer.com front page and read it. My only quibble is that Derrick didn't mention that Connelly's foul on Musgraves that led to the Wheaton score on the penalty kick was unnecessary, given that Musgraves had already lost the ball.

I was surprised to learn that Wheaton's players take the NPU soccer program this seriously. Surprised, and grateful, because as I've said so often on this website it's not really a rivalry unless both sides take part in it, and it seems to me that Wheaton is now actually beginning to share some of the intensity that will make it at long last a genuine rivalry. As every Parker knows, Wheaton has a long tradition of not taking NPU seriously with regard to anything, which is part of the reason why Parkers loathe Wheaton so passionately. (That was true even when North Park was a basketball powerhouse and Wheaton was a mediocrity in that sport; my lingering memory of Wheaton students at the NPC @ WC games during the 1980s is that they'd basically sit there and talk to their friends and not pay any attention to the game, while the North Park students screamed their heads off and carried on.) But when Wheaton soccer greats like Stephen Rigby and Justin Risma give NPU props by saying that their intensity was dialed up when they faced the Vikings, you know that at long last the Park is finally getting under some orange-and-blue skin.

John Born's description of NPU being the little brother in this rivalry is apt. It's just nice to know that big brother is now forced to pay attention to his upstart sibling.

[tjcummingsfan]

According to the Augie website, it looks like North Park took out the frustrations of two straight losses (one of which was to Wheaton!) on the other Vikings. 5-0

http://www.augustana.edu/x22497.xml

[Gregory Sager]

Big, big win on the road for a banged-up NPU team that needed to stop its slide. Lindmark, Hills, and Grahn not only played, the former two each scored a pair of goals and the latter had three assists. Good to see freshman Effy Restrepo, who is reviving North Park's missionary-kid tradition (the Vikings used to have a lot of MKs on the soccer team back in the day) notch the first goal of his career as well.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Big, big win on the road for a banged-up NPU team that needed to stop its slide. Lindmark, Hills, and Grahn not only played, the former two each scored a pair of goals and the latter had three assists. Good to see freshman Effy Restrepo, who is reviving North Park's missionary-kid tradition (the Vikings used to have a lot of MKs on the soccer team back in the day) notch the first goal of his career as well.

Considering that Augie was 2-0 going in, and the game was in RI, that IS an impressive bounce-back!  Congratulations!

[thePietist]

Great win for NP this weekend.  Good to put away a team like that.

I missed the cover story on d3soccer.com
How do I find it now?

[Gregory Sager]

Great win for NP this weekend.  Good to put away a team like that.

I missed the cover story on d3soccer.com
How do I find it now?

As with all scrolled-out front-page stories, it's moved over to the Notables section, Rev. I-Didn't-Go-To-A-University.

Tomorrow NPU is going to travel north of the border to take on #12 UW-Whitewater (10-0-2) before returning to Holmgren Athletic Complex on Saturday for the 7:30 pm culmination of a tripleheader that'll feature a football game against Augustana, a women's soccer game against Millikin, and a men's soccer game against Millikin.

[thePietist]

Nice article.  Glad to see that NP is finally a big game for Wheaton.  We tried so hard to make it a viable rivalry when I was a Viking (yes, Greg, in the early "U" days) but for the most part, our seething hatred for the Crusunders was met with confused looks: "N-P-who?"  It didn't help, of course, that Wheaton was far superior in every sport.  However, what the Vikings lacked in wins in the late 90s they made up for in fan support.  I seem to remember fan buses to Wheaton ensuring that NP fans outnumbered Wheaton's on their home turf.  I doubt that's possible anymore.
That 2004 NP win at Wheaton was a wake-up call to a long-dominant Wheaton program--and one of the most exciting games I've ever attended.  At long last, we have a rivalry.

And Greg, for the record, I was at enough games "in the olden days" to refrain from using the U.  In fact, I have an official NPC Alumni sticker on the back of my car (I bought the car from a friend!)  But I prefer the 2-letter moniker.  And let this be a word of warning to you: don't ever criticize a minister's brevity--you may not like what you get in return!

[augie77]

I'm a newcomer to CCIW soccer, though I've long followed other sports.  Can someone provide a brief synopsis of how the D3 playoffs work.  In particular, how are teams selected for the various districts.  It appears that the CCIW champion wll go to the Central district.  The same may be said for the MIAA champion. Dominican appears to be a lock.  What other conferences or states constitute this district?  Are there any early thoughts on who else might be selected?  And is there any shot of the CCIW getting two teams in (I doubt it...)?

Finally, can anyone knock off Dominican?

[Jim Matson]

augie77, welcome!

The summary is this: most conferences have tourneys for the AQ (the automatic berth in the post-season), while a few do not.  MIAA awards their AQ to the regular season winner - at least they did that last year.  The Regions come into play with regard to the Pool C consideration, although there is also a national component to this.

The NCAA Regional Rankings will be out on Wednesday.  This will give us our first look at who is in consideration for a Pool C berth (at-large).  By the third week of this poll, it will be safe to assume that no one who is not on this list will have a shot at a Pool C berth.

The CCIW has little chance (in my opinion) of getting two programs in the post-season.  Wheaton is playing well now and certainly has a strong SOS (strength of schedule), but I see no one else stepping up.  Elmhurst is having a down year, for instance.  But we'll see what we see tomorrow from the NCAA.  If we see two CCIW programs in the top 8 or so, that would be a good sign.

The NCAA release will be on the front page of our site, as well as available on the NCAA site.

[Jim Matson]

Oh, and yes, someone can knock off Dominican.  Concordia-Wisconsin played them to a draw.  But they are a good team that usually has no trouble scoring.

I think that you have a great bunch in Dominican, Whitewater, Oshkosh, and Wash U, if you are considering some of the logical post-season possibilities.  Don't count out Wheaton or Chicago for an upset team either.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU senior midfielder James Kriticos upon being named CCIW Defensive Player of the Week. He's the third Viking to win that award thus far this year.