CCIW

[Gregory Sager]

Npu's 2021 roster is posted
https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster

It looks to include the son of former Chelsea and Norwegian striker Tore Andre Flo.

Isak Flo is indeed the son of Tore Andre Flo. It appears that Tore settled permanently in Ascot near the end of his career and began a soccer academy there, and that Isak's played for Ascot United juniors from a young age. Dunno how good a player Isak is, sight unseen, but if nothing else that's a pretty impressive pedigree.

Who knows, perhaps they heard about  the school from former Norwegian international Lars Bohinen, who used to hang out on campus during the early 90's.

If it was a Norwegian contact, it would've just as likely have been former NPU midfielder Markus Fodstad, who has been part of the CSUSA scouting service in the Land of the Midnight Sun since graduating from North Park. But don't discount the possibility that former Vikings reserve MF Ollie Chell had something to do with it, since Ollie's an Ascot native who is living back home now. It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Ollie and Isak played with or against each other in Ascot.

Noel Holm - Looked like the best player on the field during spring scrimmages

a 22 year old freshman with youth national team experience. I should hope he was the best player on the field.

In terms of his age, keep in mind that he also spent a redshirt freshman year at D1 Jacksonville.

Roster looks loaded. Maybe it's their year?

Fingers crossed.

Is it their year....to win a national championship?

Obviously, way too early to tell but based on the 2 games I watched in the spring - they have some areas of concern. The midfield is absolutely loaded. No questioning that. However, they seemed to lack a real striker in the spring. Small sample size (2 games), but they just didnt have anyone who was going to put fear in a good defense. The other position that looked up in the air was GK. As noted earlier, way too early to tell and I have no idea if they brought in a stud freshman or transfer to solidify that.

That's an honest assessment.

There's some interesting returning options that Kris Grahn has up top. Patrick Knap is the incumbent, as he backed up Shatil Khoury over the past few seasons. He's unspectacular but steady. Everyone really likes the kid from Ghana by way of Niles North, Jesse Anamoo, who is spectacular (or was, at times, last spring), but is also raw and tended to disappear for long stretches. Erik Lundeen, a former All-CCIW selection as a wing, could be the guy who steps up in this competition, since he has the size (he's about 6'4, 190), speed, and technique to bother opponents in front of the net, and he's finally healthy. Or it could be a newcomer -- Tore Andre Flo's son, perhaps?

All I can say is that, with a 67-man roster -- that's gotta be some kind of CCIW record, isn't it? -- if Kris Grahn can't find a quality high-volume scorer out of such a large collection of players, it's throw-up-your-hands-and-give-up time.

(I should also point out that Peder Olsen comes into this season with 38 career goals and 101 career points -- he potted 19 of his shots back in 2019 -- so it's not as though NPU is lacking someone who has experience at putting the ball in the back of the net.)

Goalkeeper is another story. It's not that Edin Sabovic is a bad GK; his work in relief of Mathias Stulen in the 2019 D3 tourney's second round against Gustavus Adolphus is what got the Vikings into the Sweet Sixteen. It's just that he hasn't wowed the coaching staff, which is why they gave freshman Alfred Sward equal time in last spring's scrimmages. That GK competition appeared to be inconclusive. Whether Kris Grahn goes with one of those two or with somebody new remains to be seen.

With that being said, they might have the best midfield in the country - Olsen, Ericsson, Lund, DeCarro, and Holm.

I would add that a back line that includes the likes of All-American Angel Barriga, William Boström-Rydfjall, and D1 transfer Johan Bjorck, plus a host of other experienced players such as Christian Vaaland, Runar Berg-Domaas, Abu Secka, and Sander Karlsoen, ought to be very, very solid as well.

One thing I can say for certain is that I like the fact that this season's NPU roster includes two Oscars (even though one of them actually spells it with a 'k', as some Swedes do). The Vikings had three Oscars/Oskars when they returned to prominence a dozen or so years ago after two or three relatively down seasons, so I consider Oscars to be good luck for the Park. The fact that the Vikings also have a brace of guys named Osvaldo (veterans Osvaldo Espinosa and Osvaldo Urbina) is a luck multiplier for the Oscars in my book.

Best of all, the Vikings have a freshman whose name is a perfect fusion of the Scandinavian and Hispanic elements of the team: Axel Garcia. I don't think North Park soccer will ever have a player with a better name, unless Kris is able to find an Ulrik Hernandez or a Miguel Svensson somewhere.

I am significantly less optimistic about my Thunder, for reasons everyone is aware of. Maybe next year.

While, on an emotional level, every fiber of my being would shout in exultation at the sight of Wheaton soccer cratering, my head tells me that this would be a bad thing for CCIW soccer. As I noted in the schedules that I posted back in May, other CCIW programs aren't exactly challenging themselves on a regular basis in non-conference play. The conference won't get better, top to bottom, unless coaches start challenging their teams more and stop scheduling to post gaudy non-conference records for the sake of job security. Right now, North Park, Carthage, and Wheaton are the only programs in the CCIW that have a proven track record and can pretty much guarantee a challenge for anybody in D3 west of the Appalachians who schedules them. If Wheaton slips out of that position, it nullifies any incremental improvement that, say, Augustana or North Central can show in 2021.

[Gregory Sager]

Isak Flo highlight video from this past year. He looks like a forward with strong technique and a good head for the position.

[augie77]

Any ideas on what prompted the abrupt Wheaton coaching changes?

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, that seems to be the $64,000 Question in CCIW soccer right now.

As you implied earlier, the timing seems to be as big of a story as the change itself.

[Gregory Sager]

Goalkeeper is another story. It's not that Edin Sabovic is a bad GK; his work in relief of Mathias Stulen in the 2019 D3 tourney's second round against Gustavus Adolphus is what got the Vikings into the Sweet Sixteen. It's just that he hasn't wowed the coaching staff, which is why they gave freshman Alfred Sward equal time in last spring's scrimmages. That GK competition appeared to be inconclusive. Whether Kris Grahn goes with one of those two or with somebody new remains to be seen.

Looks like NPU has two incoming freshman keepers (along with Alfred Sward and Adis Halilovic, who are still freshmen, of course, despite having played for the Vikings last spring). One is David Neitzke-Pizarro from Appleton North, which won the Wisconsin state title last season. Neitzke-Pizarro was named All-State first team and recorded a shutout in the state title game. The other is Oskar Rydberg, who is one of a couple of 2021 NPU recruits from the Athleticademix soccer academy in Sweden that had very extensive and impressive highlight videos, the other being center mid Isac Esfandyari. (Former Vikings forward Robin Hals runs the academy.) So that means at least five GKs on the North Park roster. We'll see how the starting spot gets sorted out.

[Gotberg]

Isak Flo highlight video from this past year. He looks like a forward with strong technique and a good head for the position.

He may be great, but I don't think those defenders were of CCIW quality.

[Gregory Sager]

Agreed. They all really look like young kids. Unfortunately, I'm getting to the point where everybody I see on a highlight video looks like a young kid.

(Incidentally, I've learned that Isak Flo's older brother is a friend and former teammate of Ollie Chell, so my suspicion that Ollie was the catalyst for Isak's presence at NPU was correct.)

[Ron Boerger]

For what it's worth, Carthage made the journey to San Antonio for a scrimmage (two regulation 45' periods plus an extra 10' "overtime") and absorbed a 10-0 loss.   May they have better fortune next Wednesday in their season opener at Concordia (TX).

(edit:  the original tweet was deleted - see https://twitter.com/TrinitySoccerTX/status/1431428542210904064)

[Gregory Sager]

Good grief. What the heck happened to Carthage?

[Gregory Sager]

All nine CCIW programs get underway tomorrow. Records listed below are from the 2019 season:

Carthage (8-10-2) @ Concordia TX (11-6-4), 11 am
Carroll (7-10) @ Beloit (5-11-2), 4:30 pm
Concordia IL (9-9) @ Elmhurst (10-9-2), 5 pm
North Park (16-5-2) @ Lake Forest (10-8-1), 5 pm
Augustana (6-7-2) @ Simpson (16-4-2), 7 pm
Millikin (6-9-1) @ Aurora (13-5-1), 7 pm
Hardin-Simmons (14-3-2) @ Wheaton (10-4-4), 7 pm
Washington MO (8-7-1) @ Illinois Wesleyan (9-8-2), 7:30 pm
Benedictine (10-8-1) @ North Central (11-5-3), 7:30 pm

Here's hoping for a 9-0 start!

[Gregory Sager]

In the first CCIW action of the season, Carthage and Concordia (TX) played to a 2-2 draw down in Austin today. I watched the two overtime periods; the Firebirds had their chances, but the Tornados had better ones. In the 104th minute the Tornados had a clean look from seven yards out that required Carthage keeper Christian Lekki to make a really nice diving save, and in the second overtime's final five seconds a Concordia (TX) player came in on the right unimpeded, but he let loose from the top of the box prematurely, as he had enough time to dribble in two or three more steps, and sent it out left.

Carthage did have a decided 9-2 corners advantage, and the Firebirds put six shots on frame to Concordia (TX)'s five, but the Tornados outshot Carthage, 16-13.

It's 95 degrees down there today, which doesn't sound like much fun to play in.

[Gotberg]

Watching the NPU game online.  Lake Forest appears to be using a cell phone as their video technology.  the announcer said - North Park with a corner and "they seem to be trying that head-butt thing again".

[GoThunder1]

You are completely right. This is an atrocious broadcast.

"Player 58 kicks the ball..."

[Gotberg]

North Park won 4-1.   Hard to follow the game, but I have confidence NPU had at least 80% possession.

[Gregory Sager]

Watching the NPU game online.  Lake Forest appears to be using a cell phone as their video technology.  the announcer said - North Park with a corner and "they seem to be trying that head-butt thing again".

I decided not to play the NPU @ LFC livestream on my press-box laptop while I was calling the women's soccer game at North Park, because I didn't want the distraction. However, Lake Forest never got the live stats going, so I had to turn on the livestream from LFC just so that I could see the score in the video's graphic. Turns out that I couldn't have watched the game even if I had wanted to, because it not only appeared to be shot via a cell phone, as you said, but said cell phone was pointed straight into the setting sun for the entire game. There was more lens flare than in a J.J. Abrams movie. I couldn't see a thing.

I turned the sound down so that I didn't have the distraction of hearing someone broadcast a different game while I was broadcasting one, and now I'm kinda sorry that I did. At halftime, a North Park alumna came into the press box and said, "You won't believe it, but I'm pretty sure that Lake Forest found some 12-year-old girl from the neighborhood and asked her to call the game tonight." Then she told me about the "head-butt thing," which gave me the best laugh I've had all week.