CCIW

[Saldner F.F.]

Two questions: How can you "Zidane" a player and still be able to finish the soccer game on the pitch? Second: Can the Loras camera man please follow the ball for the second half?

[Saldner F.F.]

So the answer is that you are allowed to in the NCAA d3 soccer? I hate losing but the Vikes were supposed to play 11 on 10, almost all game! Who brought gave that ref the permission to do this game?

[thePietist]

A hard-fought (and physical) match for the Vikings.  A tough loss to swallow in what looked like a fairly even contest.  I'm surprised nobody got seriously injured (or ejected, for that matter).  Congrats to NP on a good season. 

Good luck to Wheaton in the coming rounds.

[KICKIN95]

So the answer is that you are allowed to in the NCAA d3 soccer? I hate losing but the Vikes were supposed to play 11 on 10, almost all game! Who brought gave that ref the permission to do this game?

I guess you didn't see the 1st foul, just the 2nd?  I thought the center did a good job at keeping the game from getting out of hand.  The NCAA picks the ref, but you won't have to worry about them anymore this year.

[Saldner F.F.]

So you are arguing that he saw the "bull moose" hit and decided that a yellow card was enough? If he didn't see it that's another story, what's strange is the yellow card. No matter what the first tackle looked like we all saw in the world cup 2006 how to treat actions like that.

North Park has done a great job trying to steal a win from a high ranked team at their turf. This was NP's first loss all season in 90 min and its even more impressive looking at their very competitive schedule. Hopefully they will get some more attention next year and not be viewed as one of the "most surprising wins" when they win their first round next year.. .

[keeker]

Loras has only four players from Iowa on its roster; 17 hail from Illinois (mostly DuPage county).  North Park has 17 players from Sweden.

So academy rejects beat scandinavian imports... hmm, somebody tell born to start looking for players in his neighborhood. I hope loras get to play against wheaton. we'll then get to see the rejects vs the legits and see if academy is all its cracked up to be. Somehow i doubt it.

[Jim Matson]

I sure don't understand that last post. Any translators around?

[KICKIN95]

Loras has only four players from Iowa on its roster; 17 hail from Illinois (mostly DuPage county).  North Park has 17 players from Sweden.

So academy rejects beat scandinavian imports... hmm, somebody tell born to start looking for players in his neighborhood. I hope loras get to play against wheaton. we'll then get to see the rejects vs the legits and see if academy is all its cracked up to be. Somehow i doubt it.

Umm, I don't know if your meds have worn off but the rejects comment is nothing short of ignorant (proving your knowledge or lack there of DIII soccer) and if you did even the slightest bit of research you would have noticed that Loras already blanked Wheaton 2-0 this season.  Nothing screams moron louder than when a person uses their own foot as a bullhorn!

[OskeeHawk]

Kickin, i Believe he's talking about the ussf academy kids that Wheaton has versus some non academy kids that Loras has.

[thePietist]

Those are some pretty broad brush strokes, fellas. 

As for the lack of red card for the Loras foul, most refs are going to err on the side of warnings in post-season play.  They don't want to be the deciding factor by putting a team down one man, especially early in the game as that was. Regular season that may have drawn the red--maybe even later in the game.  Frustrating?  Absolutely.  But as was already said, the ref seemed to keep the game from getting out of control and hand out cautions pretty freely in a very physical match played by two talented teams. 

[OskeeHawk]

If loras/Wheaton do meet up it doesn't solve that debate on academy versus non academy anyway. That's a discussion for a youth soccer forum.
I am interested though in the connection of NP and Sweden, be interesting to see if that pipeline stays open and they can continue to improve in years to come.

[Thunder1]

Hello again fellas. Hate to say it, but I called the NP victory over Wash U earlier this week as well as the tight NP vs Loras game. Kicken, not sure if you were at the Wheaton vs Loras game earlier in the year. True, it was a 2-0 game but it was a great game with end to end action, even shots and possession. Could have gone either way. It was a 0-0 game with 8 minutes to play, the second goal on a missed offsides call with about a minute left in the game with Wheaton pressing for the tie. Wheaton was working out kinks early in the year (start 6 freshmen and sophomores with a completely new back line) and had one of toughest schedules in the country with a ton of travel and only seven regular season home games this year. It should be another great weekend of soccer. If Wheaton is fortunate enough to get by Dominican and Lora's gets by UWP, the Loras vs Wheaton rematch could be a barn burner. First things first with Dominican though....another very good team.

As for the academy debate, Wheaton does have 4 players from the Chicago Fire Academy. I'm not sure about the other teams.

[KICKIN95]

Hello again fellas. Hate to say it, but I called the NP victory over Wash U earlier this week as well as the tight NP vs Loras game. Kicken, not sure if you were at the Wheaton vs Loras game earlier in the year. True, it was a 2-0 game but it was a great game with end to end action, even shots and possession. Could have gone either way. It was a 0-0 game with 8 minutes to play, the second goal on a missed offsides call with about a minute left in the game with Wheaton pressing for the tie. Wheaton was working out kinks early in the year (start 6 freshmen and sophomores with a completely new back line) and had one of toughest schedules in the country with a ton of travel and only seven regular season home games this year. It should be another great weekend of soccer. If Wheaton is fortunate enough to get by Dominican and Lora's gets by UWP, the Loras vs Wheaton rematch could be a barn burner. First things first with Dominican though....another very good team.

As for the academy debate, Wheaton does have 4 players from the Chicago Fire Academy. I'm not sure about the other teams.

I did go to the Loras v Wheaton match and you are 100% correct, it was as even a match as 2 teams could play.  The goals just happened to go Loras's way, I would expect more of the same if the 2 do meet again.

[Gregory Sager]

A disappointing end to the season for NPU, but thanks to John Born, his assistants, and all the players on another great run in 2012. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Loras has only four players from Iowa on its roster; 17 hail from Illinois (mostly DuPage county).  North Park has 17 players from Sweden.

So academy rejects beat scandinavian imports... hmm, somebody tell born to start looking for players in his neighborhood.

What's with the hate, keeker? I had no idea that you were in the same let's-dump-on-NPU boat at blue_jays.

NPU had 14 local players on the roster this season, including regulars Elvin Ahmeti (Wheaton North), Joe Ferguson (DeKalb), and David Dawood (Niles West). John Born does plenty of "looking for players in his neighborhood" -- I see prospects all the time in the stands at NPU home games. Regardless, though, what the heck difference should it make where he gets his players from? Why the parochial attitude? The irony is that men's soccer seems to be the one sport in which Wheaton recruits locally; in every other sport, Wheaton's rosters read like the Rand-McNally atlas. But nobody sees the need to harp on Wheaton for "not looking for players in their own neighborhood." Nor should they.

If loras/Wheaton do meet up it doesn't solve that debate on academy versus non academy anyway. That's a discussion for a youth soccer forum.
I am interested though in the connection of NP and Sweden, be interesting to see if that pipeline stays open and they can continue to improve in years to come.

The Swedish pipeline to NPU has been in existence for quite a few years now. NPU has had All-CCIW players who hailed from Sweden going all the way back to the early '90s (Magnus Ramstrom, Sven Eggefalk, Marcus Nilsson, etc.). The difference is that it's been much more productive in terms of numbers over the past couple of seasons. In the past, NPU's soccer team used to annually have anywhere from two to five Swedes. Last year and this year it's had between 15 and 20 (with a couple of Norwegians thrown in for color ). John Born has very actively recruited Swedes -- who obviously have very high skill levels, and who tend to be a year or two older than their American counterparts -- and I don't see that changing anytime soon, especially with Kris Grahn on the coaching staff. Why would you kill the goose that's laid the blue-and-golden egg?

Why do Swedish soccer players come to NPU? Several reasons. NPU has a very good international business major that draws a lot of foreign students, Swedes among them. The school is located in a world-class city of almost three million people, which is a huge draw for international students as well. This is particularly true of Swedes, who come from a country whose population is the same as that of metro Chicagoland and which has only a fraction of the amazing diversity that Chicago offers (and even that can only be found in Sweden's major cities). Lastly, North Park is a school that was founded by Swedish immigrants in the late nineteenth century, and it still makes a big deal out of its ethnic heritage (the nickname "Vikings" and the school's royal-blue-and-gold colors attest to that). There are only about a half-dozen colleges and universities in the U.S. where a student can major in Swedish, and NPU is one of them. In fact, Chicago's best Swedish restaurant, Tre Kronor (recommended by none other than Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson), is right across the street from campus. NPU's Swedes feel very much at home at North Park, or at least as much at home as it's possible for a Swede to feel in America.

[Mr. Ypsi]

A disappointing end to the season for NPU, but thanks to John Born, his assistants, and all the players on another great run in 2012. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Loras has only four players from Iowa on its roster; 17 hail from Illinois (mostly DuPage county).  North Park has 17 players from Sweden.

So academy rejects beat scandinavian imports... hmm, somebody tell born to start looking for players in his neighborhood.

What's with the hate, keeker? I had no idea that you were in the same let's-dump-on-NPU boat at blue_jays.

NPU had 14 local players on the roster this season, including regulars Elvin Ahmeti (Wheaton North), Joe Ferguson (DeKalb), and David Dawood (Niles West). John Born does plenty of "looking for players in his neighborhood" -- I see prospects all the time in the stands at NPU home games. Regardless, though, what the heck difference should it make where he gets his players from? Why the parochial attitude? The irony is that men's soccer seems to be the one sport in which Wheaton recruits locally; in every other sport, Wheaton's rosters read like the Rand-McNally atlas. But nobody sees the need to harp on Wheaton for "not looking for players in their own neighborhood." Nor should they.

If loras/Wheaton do meet up it doesn't solve that debate on academy versus non academy anyway. That's a discussion for a youth soccer forum.
I am interested though in the connection of NP and Sweden, be interesting to see if that pipeline stays open and they can continue to improve in years to come.

The Swedish pipeline to NPU has been in existence for quite a few years now. NPU has had All-CCIW players who hailed from Sweden going all the way back to the early '90s (Magnus Ramstrom, Sven Eggefalk, Marcus Nilsson, etc.). The difference is that it's been much more productive in terms of numbers over the past couple of seasons. In the past, NPU's soccer team used to annually have anywhere from two to five Swedes. Last year and this year it's had between 15 and 20 (with a couple of Norwegians thrown in for color ;)). John Born has very actively recruited Swedes -- who obviously have very high skill levels, and who tend to be a year or two older than their American counterparts -- and I don't see that changing anytime soon, especially with Kris Grahn on the coaching staff. Why would you kill the goose that's laid the blue-and-golden egg?

Why do Swedish soccer players come to NPU? Several reasons. NPU has a very good international business major that draws a lot of foreign students, Swedes among them. The school is located in a world-class city of almost three million people, which is a huge draw for international students as well. This is particularly true of Swedes, who come from a country whose population is the same as that of metro Chicagoland and which has only a fraction of the amazing diversity that Chicago offers (and even that can only be found in Sweden's major cities). Lastly, North Park is a school that was founded by Swedish immigrants in the late nineteenth century, and it still makes a big deal out of its ethnic heritage (the nickname "Vikings" and the school's royal-blue-and-gold colors attest to that). There are only about a half-dozen colleges and universities in the U.S. where a student can major in Swedish, and NPU is one of them. In fact, Chicago's best Swedish restaurant, Tre Kronor (recommended by none other than Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson), is right across the street from campus. NPU's Swedes feel very much at home at North Park, or at least as much at home as it's possible for a Swede to feel in America.

I may have to send that line to Garrison Keillor!   Colorful Norwegians?!