CCIW

[Gregory Sager]

North Park (9-2, 3-1) had to come from behind twice, but the Vikings eventually managed to pull off a 3-2 overtime victory at Illinois Wesleyan (8-3, 1-2) on a sliding poke of a goal by Peder Olsen in the 99th minute. It was an ugly, grind-it-out affair on a messed-up pitch, and the Vikings certainly had much more trouble with the Titans than they're used to seeing. The Titans played with more energy early, and they won pretty much every 50/50 and second ball until deep into the match. The Vikings clearly had difficulty reading the slower surface, as it hampered their passing game throughout the first half, while IWU did a much better job of reading angles on the wings with the slower ball.

Eventually the Vikings solved the pace and began to take over possession, posting much better statistical numbers in the second half than they did in the first. NPU eventually finished ahead in shots, 14 (5) to 8 (3), and corners, 8-5. The Park actually had two good earlier chances to put the match away, first in the 89th minute on a direct free kick from 20 yards out by Olsen and in the 98th minute on a Shatil Khoury header, before Olsen finally nudged the winning goal over on an Erik Lundeen cross.

I think that this is the best Illinois Wesleyan side I've seen in forever, better than last season's edition. The Titans are big and physical, and they have sufficient speed on the wings to be dangerous. They're also very deep, as Kyle Schauls showed little compunction about pulling entire line changes (he used 25 players), and there doesn't seem to be much dropoff when he does it.  There's not much skill on the roster, but they're sufficiently dangerous for every opponent they'll face this season, especially on that cow pasture they play on.

Wheaton (7-4-1, 2-2) started off the weekend on Friday with a 1-0 win over Augustana (3-7, 1-2) at Joe Bean Stadium. Saturday didn't hold any surprises, either, as Millikin (8-3, 3-0) easily dispatched hapless Elmhurst (1-11, 0-3) in Decatur, 4-0, and North Central (8-3, 3-1) likewise romped over Carroll (0-10-2, 0-3) in Waukesha. Carthage (6-7, 2-1) played two matches this weekend, dumping NAIA entry Silver Lake on Saturday, 4-1, in Kenosha before being creamed by St. Thomas up in the Twin Cities, 5-1, on Sunday.

[soccer1234]

I'll take your recap role tonight Greg,

Wheaton (8-4-1, 3-2) defeated Carroll (0-11-2, 0-4) with two first half goals.  The stat line has Wheaton up 15-10 in shots and 9-5 on corners.  Seems to be a simple win for Wheaton who has been very hit or miss this season.  Not much in this game but Wheaton improved to 7-0 at Joe Bean Stadium during this 4 game CCIW home stand.

Carthage (7-7, 3-1) defeated North Central (8-4, 3-2) in Naperville tonight.  North Central seemingly had the run of play at home with advantages in both the shots and corner categories.  Nice win for with Red Men with large top 4 hopes on the line with home match up against IWU on Saturday.  North Central appears to be in control of their own fate with wins over Wheaton and Wesleyan already, but 4-1 loss to Millikin does not look good.

Augustana (4-7, 2-2) beat IWU (8-4, 1-3) in double OT in Rock Island late tonight.  Augustana's second shot on goal found the back of the net in the 109th minute, off of a pretty bicycle kick from the top of the box.  A seemingly easy game for Wesleyan against the lowly Vikings was a physical fight with 2 red cards and a total of 37 fouls, most against the Vikings.  Lots of work ahead for IWU while Augustana has moved past 3 quality opponents with an interesting 2-2 CCIW record.

North Park (10-2, 4-1) handled Elmhurst (1-12, 0-4) by a score of 4-0 at North Park.  I assume North Park was in full control over the struggling Blue Jays and really had no moments of scare with all four goals scored within about 20 minutes.  Greg if anything of note from that game came to be feel free to elaborate, but I doubt it.

-1234

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW's two traditional powers met the league's two bottom-feeders of 2018 this evening, with predictable results. North Park (10-2, 4-1) cruised to an easy 4-0 win over Elmhurst (1-12, 0-4), a match in which John Born got two dozen of his players onto the field at one point or another. Wheaton (8-4-1, 3-2) wasn't quite as dominant, but still didn't look too threatened by Carroll (0-11-2, 0-4) in the 2-0 win for the hosts at Joe Bean Stadium in Wheaton.

The other two matches were far more interesting. Carthage (7-7, 3-1) continued its up-and-down season by returning to the upswing with a 1-0 victory over North Central (8-4, 3-2) at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville. The Cardinals dominated statistically, outshooting the Red Men 12 (6) to 9 (4) and outcornering them by a 6-2 margin, but the Red Men managed to keep the hosts from putting the ball in the net and now have sole possession of third place in the standings, at least for the moment.

And, in an even bigger surprise, Augustana (4-7, 2-2) got a golden goal from Salah Aghlaf with only 59 seconds remaining in the second overtime to break a scoreless deadlock and defeat Illinois Wesleyan (8-4, 1-3) in the Quad Cities, 1-0. Daniel Artman of Augie had launched a free kick on one bounce to Aghlaf at the top of the 18, and Aghlaf, who had his back to the goal, lifted a lazy bicycle kick to one-time it home over the head of IWU keeper Alex Ruckstaetter who had come out of the crease and was helpless to do anything about what should've been a routine shot. It was quite an ugly match. Augie's starting goalkeeper came off in the 54th minute due to an injury and did not return. Augie's Otis Maberry was booked with a red card in the 79th minute for shoving a Titan and then yelling a whole lotta mess, one of nine bookings on the night, and Augie had to play almost the entirety of the remainder of regulation short-handed. But in the final second of regulation, IWU's Donovan Malone tripped the Augie keeper and received a yellow, and then got a red for mouthing off about it, negating the man advantage for the Titans.

I'm stunned by this outcome, as IWU struck me as being a significantly better side than Augie. The Titans dominated the scoresheet to the tune of 19 (8) to 4 (2) in shots and 7-2 in corners. Kudos to Augie, which brass-knuckled its way to this upset (the hosts outfouled the Titans, 24-13, and got six of the nine bookings).  After reeling off seven straight wins, the Titans have now lost three straight matches in eight days and, with road matches at Carthage and Millikin still remaining, are in danger of missing out on a tournament berth that a week ago they looked to be in great position to garner.

[Gregory Sager]

That's what I get for going back to watch the key moments of the archived IWU @ AC match to spice up what I had already written in my recap -- someone beats me to the punch.

[Gregory Sager]

Big shocker in Decatur this evening, as Millikin (8-4, 3-1) dropped its first CCIW match with a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Augustana (5-7, 3-2). I watched the entire second half, and the win wasn't a fluke; Augie, which scored on an own goal and on a set piece in the first half, played with just as much pace, possession, and smarts as the Big Blue did in the second. The hosts did manage to put one in the back of the net on a header off of a throw-in with four minutes left, but it was too little, too late. Millikin dominated in shots, 15 (6) to 8 (5), and corners by a 6-0 tally, but the only consequential MU shot I saw was the header that scored. Somehow Augie has come to life over the past week with a brace of impressive victories, as the Rock Islanders now find themselves within the thick of the race for a CCIW playoff spot.

Carthage (8-7, 4-1) netted a pair of strikes in the second half to down slumping Illinois Wesleyan (8-5, 1-4), 2-0, at Keller Field in Kenosha. The Red Men are now tied for first with North Park, both sides a half-game up in the win column over Millikin, with, of course, the tiebreaker advantage resting with NPU due to the head-to-head win for the Park. Meanwhile, IWU may just have seen its playoff hopes evaporate with this loss tonight, as there are six sides in the league that have either one loss or two while the Titans have four.

Congratulations to Carroll (1-11-2, 1-4), which finally broke into the win column with a 1-0 whitewash of fellow bottom-dweller Elmhurst (1-13, 0-5) at Schaefer Stadium in Waukesha this afternoon.

And North Park (11-2, 4-1) had an easy time of it with a 3-0 non-conference triumph over Thomas More this afternoon in Chicago. Reigning CCIW Player of the Week Peder Olsen picked up his fourth goal of the week, while freshman Joachim Hoff added a brace of goals to give himself three for the week. All told, Olsen picked up ten points in three matches this week, while Erik Lundeen added seven, Hoff notched six, and Shatil Khoury had five.

Wednesday will see another mixed slate, with North Park (@ UW-Whitewater), Carthage (@ Chicago), and Carroll (@ Beloit) all stepping out of CCIW play, while North Central travels to Elmhurst and, in the big showdown of the night, Millikin will look to bounce back from tonight's loss by grabbing a win at Wheaton.

[Gregory Sager]

A couple of big-time upsets tonight, as Carthage (9-7, 4-1) traveled to the South Side and came away with a 1-0 victory over #2 or #3 (depending upon which poll you're looking at) Chicago. Jeff Montemayor scored in the 66th minute for the lone tally of the night. The Red Men managed to survive quite an onslaught in the last ten minutes by the Maroons, as Steve Domin put six on his back line and wouldn't give the hosts any room to breathe in close. Chicago was tabbed for nine offsides in the contest.

More directly relevant for CCIW purposes was Elmhurst's 1-0 stunner over North Central. The 'jays ran a beautiful play off of a chip shot from outside the 18 to the side of the crease, where it was headed onto the foot of Keegan Thompson, who banged it home in the 79th minute. It's the first CCIW win for Elmhurst (2-13, 1-5), while heretofore contending North Central (8-5, 3-3) is now more or less out of the running for the CCIW crown.

Wheaton advanced its cause by beating Millikin, 1-0, in the western suburbs, as the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance made an early Peter Whallen goal stand up. Statistically, it looks like Wheaton controlled the match. Millikin (8-5, 3-2) has now lost two straight after dominating the first half of the CCIW round-robin, while Wheaton (9-4-1, 4-2) is clearly playing much better soccer now than it was earlier in the season.

North Park (12-2, 4-1) did what it had to do on the road at UW-Whitewater -- always a tough place to play -- to come away with a 1-0 triumph, as Shatil Khoury headed home a cross from Marrion Alvaro in the 76th minute.

Finally, Carroll has tasted victory and decided that it likes it ... so it went out and got another one tonight, topping Beloit on the road, 3-0, for its second straight win. That advances the Pios to 2-11-2 on the season.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park (13-2, 5-1) topped North Central (8-6, 3-4) this afternoon in Naperville by a 2-1 score. The Vikings completely had the run of play, but they haven't finished well in the past couple of matches; they put 11 shots on frame, but only two found the back of the net. They almost paid for their inability to securely put the Cards away when the hosts managed to score in the 86th minute after a Stulen mishandle, and the Cards even got a corner kick with 66 seconds left to set up a possible equalizer. The Vikings ran out the clock without any further damage, but I don't think that they were happy with their performance. Nevertheless, it's a big road win for the Vikings, lack of style points notwithstanding.

Illinois Wesleyan (9-5, 2-4) picked up a goal in the 80th minute to send Carroll packing with a 1-0 win over the Pioneers (2-12-2, 1-5) in Bloomington. The Titans are still hanging on the edge of contention for a CCIW playoff spot.

Elmhurst (3-13, 2-5) has had a nightmare season, but the 'jays are salvaging some pride as spoilers. The other day they stunned North Central, and today it was Augustana's turn in the barrel at Langhorst Field. The 'jays came away with a 2-0 triumph that certainly puts a dent in Augie's postseason plans, as the Rock Islanders drop to 5-8, 3-3. I watched a good chunk of this match, including both Elmhurst goals, and the 'jays were clearly the dominant side on the day.

UW-Whitewater picked up a goal in the 70th minute to stave off Wheaton (9-5-1, 4-2) at Fiskum Field north of the border by a score of 1-0. UWW definitely had the better of the match in terms of time of possession, although Wheaton seemed to have some quality chances to mark in this match.

And the CCIW saw its first tie this evening, as Carthage (9-7-1, 4-1-1) and Millikin (8-5-1, 3-2-1) ended up deadlocked at one goal apiece at Keller Field in Kenosha. I watched most of this match, and it was pretty interesting. Both sides scored early -- Carthage in the second minute, Millikin in the ninth -- and then settled into a long and rowdy stalemate that got pretty chippy (32 fouls, six yellows, and a whole lotta shoving back and forth). As indicated by Carthage's 23-14 shots advantage and 7-1 corners advantage, the Red Men controlled the ball for most of the game -- especially the second half, which seemed to be played almost entirely in Millikin's defensive end. The problem with the Red Men is that their offensive teamwork is lacking; they all seem to be enamored with dribbling and maneuvering with the ball in the attacking third at the expense of passing. That makes it easier to run them down from behind and to contain them by bunching up in the middle. In fact, the best opportunity to score for either side after halftime didn't belong to Carthage; the Big Blue launched a pair of bang-bang crease headers in the third minute of the first overtime that Carthage keeper Niko Mavrogiannis barely managed to fend off. But the Red Men must've felt very frustrated by their lack of a W to show for all of that ball control and those 23 shots attempted, as the final siren at the end of the second overtime degenerated into a near-brawl in front of the Millikin goal in what seems to be a Keller Field post-draw tradition.

The side that really "won" that tie is North Park, which is now alone in first a half-game ahead of Carthage due to the tie and has less to worry about in terms of Millikin owning the tiebreaker over the Vikings ... although Wheaton benefits from the draw, too, I suppose.

[WUPHF]

Whitewater played Wheaton at 7:00 and the has to play Washington University today at 12:00. Yikes.

It looks like Whitewater had a similar situation last weekend, but with 3:00 pm game followed by a 7:00 pm game.  That is significantly more recovery time.

[Ommadawn]

Whitewater played Wheaton at 7:00 and the has to play Washington University today at 12:00. Yikes.

It looks like Whitewater had a similar situation last weekend, but with 3:00 pm game followed by a 7:00 pm game.  That is significantly more recovery time.

Whitewater certainly seems to have acquitted itself well, scoring just before the end of the first half and hanging on for a 1-0 victory.  I suspect the next few days will be devoted to rest and "regen" activities!

[WUPHF]

Whitewater certainly seems to have acquitted itself well, scoring just before the end of the first half and hanging on for a 1-0 victory.  I suspect the next few days will be devoted to rest and "regen" activities!

Bravo the Warhawks!

[soccer1234]

Heading into the last week of the regular season I think it would be fun to try and predict how the league will finish.
1. North Park - they seem to be the most talented and consistent team in the league by a decent margin, Wheaton on Saturday will be tough but they are in the drivers seat and will likely close out strong.
2. Carthage - after their win against Chicago last week they should have enough confidence to lock up second place as coach Domin keeps mentioning they have been bit by the injury but, but are getting healthy at the right time.
3. Millikin - with 2 home games against teams on the bottom half of the table I have faith they will be able to return to form from their first few CCIW games and secure a playoff berth.
4. Wheaton - even with the toughest schedule in the conference left I think they will be able to sneak into the conference tournament as a dangerous 4 seed.
5. Augustana - they may be able to beat north central on Wednesday, but would be shocked to see a win against Carthage. This wasn't the bottom feeder team they have been for a while, but the loss at elmhurst hurt their chances of a playoff berth.
6. North Central - with 4 losses already they are likely out as far as playoff hopes are concerned, elmhurst loss hurt them as well.
7. IWU - after an impressive non conference season, they have to be extremely disappointed with their place in the table as they have looked like a top 4 team for a lot of this season, but weren't able to win enough close games.
8. Elmhurst - with 2 wins last week they will feel better about the way they ended their season, but is too little too late for this squad.
9. Carroll - lots of close losses in the CCIW this season for the pioneers but another team that was not able to turn those close losses to wins so they end the season on the bottom.

Obviously there is still a lot of soccer to play and as we saw last week there is lots of unpredictability in this conference, but this is how I predict the conference to finish this week.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst got one of those "this only happens in soccer (and maybe hockey)" results on Monday, as the 'jays traveled out to Galesburg and somehow returned from the cornfields with a 1-0 victory over Knox in spite of being outshot by a whopping 21 (13) to 3 (1) rate. Josh Arvidson's strike in the 28th minute may have been the only shot on goal that the 'jays had all afternoon, but it was all that they needed. The Prairie Fire also had 11 corners, while Elmhurst had none. EC freshman keeper Patrik Smith, the reigning CCIW DPOW, certainly earned his award, as his thirteen-save clean slate was also his third straight shutout.

This was a nice win for the 'jays, as Knox (13-4-1) is no walk in the park. Elmhurst is now 4-13, 2-5, with one more match remaining on the sked -- a home date this Saturday against Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans, who are hanging on to their CCIW playoff hopes by the slenderest of threads (the Titans need to beat Millikin tomorrow night and Elmhurst on Saturday, while Wheaton loses at Carthage and at North Park, Millikin also loses at home to Carroll on Saturday, and Augie loses one of its two remaining matches versus North Central and Carthage, both at home), can't like the prospect of having to go to Langhorst this weekend to take on an Elmhurst side that's finally figured it all out (albeit, as soccer1234 said, too late for it to matter for them).

[Gregory Sager]

Two important matches with CCIW playoff implications just concluded about a half-hour ago. First, with only 14 seconds left in the first overtime, Illinois Wesleyan's Orion Marty took a bouncing ball away from Millikin defender William Showers at the edge of the box and used the bounce to loft a strike out of the reach of MU keeper Isaac Hopper, giving the Titans a 2-1 extra-session victory in Decatur. The loss dropped Millikin to 8-6-1, 3-3-1 on the season, while the win advanced Illinois Wesleyan to 10-5, 3-4 on the season and kept the Titans' faint playoff hopes alive for a few minutes longer.

But time ran out on the IWU season about three minutes later, as Wheaton used a beautiful 30-yard through pass from Phillip Springsteen to Austin Pack to set up a golden chance for the visitors at Keller Field. Pack fell down while trying to set up what looked like a shot, so as he was falling he pushed the ball over as a cross instead to a streaking Joey Sopikiotis on his left. With Red Men keeper Niko Mavrogiannis already having been drawn off the line to thwart Pack, Sopikiotis had the entire net empty right in front of him, and he banged it home in the 103rd minute in the second overtime to give Wheaton a 1-0 win. Wheaton is now 10-5-1, 5-2 heading into Saturday night's big rivalry showdown at North Park, while Carthage slumped to 9-8-1, 4-2-1. Among other things, the Wheaton win eliminated IWU from playoff consideration in spite of the Titans' win at MU.

North Central (9-6, 4-4) claimed a strictly-for-pride 3-0 victory over Augustana (5-10, 3-4) in Rock Island, as Augie's ever-so-faint playoff hopes vaporized as well.

And North Park (14-2, 6-1) ran away with a 5-0 rout over Carroll (2-13-2, 1-6) at Schneider Stadium in Waukesha, as the Vikings netted three goals in the first 23 minutes of play and NPU head coach John Born was able to give his starters plenty of rest in the second half.

There are now five sides left to claim the four playoff spots, with NPU, Wheaton, and Carthage having clinched three of them. Millikin can claim the fourth spot with a win at home on Saturday against Carroll; in fact, a Millikin win coupled with a Carthage loss in Rock Island would elevate the Big Blue to the #3 seed in the playoffs by virtue of the second tiebreaker with Carthage (the two sides tied in Kenosha last Saturday, but the Big Blue beat North Park while the Red Men lost to NPU, and both sides lost to Wheaton). Meanwhile, a Big Blue loss would vault North Central -- which has finished CCIW play and concludes its season on Saturday at UW-Platteville -- into that fourth spot.

Of course, the main event will be the rivalry match at Hedstrand Field on Saturday, as Wheaton and North Park duke it out for the top seed. North Park has already clinched a share of the CCIW title by virtue of its win this evening, and the Vikings would claim the title (and the #1 playoff seed) outright with a win or tie. But a Wheaton win would result in NPU and Wheaton sharing the title, with Wheaton garnering the top seed via the tiebreaker. A tie would make Wheaton the #2 seed, no matter what Carthage does at Augustana on Saturday, while a Wheaton loss could drop the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance down to the #3 seed if the Red Men beat Augie.

[markerickson]

North Park 2, Wheaton 0, late in the second half.  NPU has totally dominated this game.

Announcer Greg Sager cracked a joke that I wonder how many comprehended.  His halftime comment about "Victory Auto Wreckers", based in Bensenville, drew chuckles from the press box and myself, as another announcer introduced a Viking senior from Bensenville during halftime as tonight was Senior Night.

[Ommadawn]

Announcer Greg Sager cracked a joke that I wonder how many comprehended.  His halftime comment about "Victory Auto Wreckers", based in Bensenville, drew chuckles from the press box and myself, as another announcer introduced a Viking senior from Bensenville during halftime as tonight was Senior Night.

It was a pleasure to be able to attach a voice to the frequent poster.  Now, if only we could get voiceprints for Mr. Right, PaulNewman, Shooter McGavin, Blooter, Falconer, Flying Weasel, etc....