CCIW

[MidwestAficionado]

I don't understand how taking a Dominican goal off the board makes a 2-1 match, 3-0...did the goal they scored end up being put in their own goal?  Wheaton only managed to put 5 shots on goal in that match.  Dominican will give up shots but does not give up quality chances, that will keep matches low scoring and allow them a chance to be in every match.

You may need to give the rest of the NACC top teams more credit rather than discrediting Dominican. MSOE has been a quality opponent for the last couple of years.  Benedictine has gotten much more organized and has landed much more talent the last couple of recruiting cycles.

You still can't deny that Dominican is 2-2-1 against North Park, Wheaton, Elmhurst, North Central and IWU.  The top three teams in the conference and NCC who in all likelihood will finish in or near the top four in the conference this season.

80% of the game was played in Dominicans defensive half. Wheaton blasted at least 5 shots from 12 yards out over the goal instead of placing them for sure goals. And DU's goal was off a free kick from
Midfield that Wheatons GK should have saved but made a mess of. That goal set Wheaton sideways for a stretch and they stumbled to a 2-1 win. Otherwise, the floodgates were going to open based on the run of play and some composed finishing.

I'm not denying anything else. All I'm saying is they're not what they once were. I'm not saying their conference opponents are poor or deserve more credit. I'm simply saying that's not a good loss for an NPU team trying to secure an at large when DU is a team (and the rest of their conference) that will only make it via an AQ whereas years past they were dominant.

[FR_Sam]

It doesn't seem the NSCAA Central Region coaches saw it as such a bad loss for NPU, keeping the Vikings at 3 while jumping Dominican to #9.

[FR_Sam]

And judging by the NCAA Regional rankings today, the committee didn't see it as a bad loss either.  NPU in a good position for Pool C assuming that Calvin and Wheaton win respective AQs, that leaves NPU as the first at-large from the Central Region.

[markerickson]

While not overlooking Saturday's game in Rock Island, North Park hosts Elmhurst and Wheaton to end the season.  Elmhurst is currently in third place while Wheaton is second and North Park is undefeated in conference play.  That is a tough three game stretch!

[NCC26]

At least they get them at home.  Who is hosting the CCIW conference championship?

[tjcummingsfan]

Unless I missed some change in the rules, the host is the regular season champion, but I believe the semi-final games are played at home for both the #1 and #2 seed. 

[Gregory Sager]

Yep. The semifinals will be #3 @ #2 and #4 @ #1, and will be played on either Tuesday, November 4 or Wednesday, November 5 (depending upon stadium availability and other scheduling concerns), and the championship will be played on Saturday, November 8 at the highest remaining seed.

[markerickson]

Wheaton beat North Park last night 1-0 on a header that hit the post and trickled across the line.  Just a couple of minutes earlier, NP had a breakaway where the striker had 30 yards with no one between him and the goalie.  The striker, a freshman, was probably totally surprised and baffled by the offering.  His grounder barely missed.  Wheaton had two grounders that also just barely missed.  In the last two minutes, Wheaton's goalie made two fantastic saves with his outstretched left hand while diving to the ground.  NP should have had a PK in the second half, but the ref did not call the obvious hand ball in the box.  Oh well.  NP cannot win if you do not score.  Wheaton did score and thus deserved the victory.  Congratulations.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU played last night's match without leading scorer Pedram Tahmi-Masoleh (scratched due to illness), who is leading the CCIW both in league play and overall in goals and goals per game -- the latter stat by a huge margin. His absence loomed large last night, although NPU managed to beat Elmhurst last week without him (and with three other starters missing as well). But, as Mark said, NPU definitely needed another offensive presence last night.

Wheaton's been able to use its size advantage over NPU to good effect on set plays over the past two or three years, and that was true again last night, as the Wheaties scored the match's lone goal off of a corner kick.

NPU put forth a valiant effort in staying with a quicker and more experienced Wheaton side last night, as the Vikings actually outshot the visitors and had the best continuous-play scoring opportunity of the night on a breakaway at 75:34, as Mark mentioned. Mark understated the opportunity, however, as Vikings freshman striker Kebba Sanyang got Wheaton keeper Matt Paprocki to commit early and thus earned himself a wide-open net from ten yards out ... which he then missed completely, sending the shot left of the post by a foot or so. I hope that this coming week's events don't leave the talented young Sanyang with the pain of having to spend the next nine months reliving that empty-net miss in his dreams.

Great atmosphere last night, as the announced attendance of 2,088 was almost certainly short by a few hundred. Anyone who wanted to see what a D3 soccer rivalry is all about should've been at North Park's Hedstrand Field last night.

[Gregory Sager]

Wednesday night's CCIW tourney semifinals:

#3 Elmhurst @ #2 North Park
#4 Millikin @ #1 Wheaton

Congrats to Millikin, as this will be the first time that the Big Blue have made the CCIW tourney since the inaugural edition back in 2002. Still, I don't expect the Big Blue to give Wheaton much of a contest at Joe Bean Stadium. I think that the more interesting match will be at Hedstrand Field, as NPU and Elmhurst went end-to-end for 90 minutes last Wednesday (and how weird is it to see an Elmhurst side playing that way?) in a very closely-fought 1-0 match.

[markerickson]

North Park wins one game in its last four and thus has most likely played its last game of the year.

[Gotberg]

North Park wins one game in its last four and thus has most likely played its last game of the year.

I am hoping Elmhurst wins tomorrow night only so we ensure 2 CCIW teams in the Tourney - not sure if Elmhurst moves on otherwise.

[Gotberg]

North Park wins one game in its last four and thus has most likely played its last game of the year.

I am hoping Elmhurst wins tomorrow night only so we ensure 2 CCIW teams in the Tourney - not sure if Elmhurst moves on otherwise.

Congrats to Wheaton - hope they do well in the Tourney.

[tjcummingsfan]

Looks like both Wheaton and North Park made the NCAA Tourney this year.  I thought Mark was dead on with the expectation that NP had missed out with its rough end to the season, but I guess they did enough to get in... 

[Gregory Sager]

Color me surprised as well. I thanked some of the Vikings seniors for their four years of contributions following the penalty-kicks decision last Wednesday at Hedstrand Field. I was sure that NPU's season was over, and the post-match vibe in the stadium told me that this sentiment was shared by everyone else.

I don't pretend to have nearly the same understanding of how the selection process works for soccer that I do for basketball. All I know is that NPU gets to go dancing and will play at least one more match, and for that I am very grateful and excited!