CCIW

[Gotberg]

NPU picked up another commitment from Sweden that plays the striker position

[Gregory Sager]

Is North Park using sports to get enrollment numbers?

Yes, as is pretty much every D3 school that is tuition-dependent (which is to say, a whole lotta D3 schools).

That roster is too large for every player to get development.

Of course it is. But are you going to turn down all of those student-athletes who think that they can play for North Park by telling them to go somewhere else? The answer is "no".

Based upon past seasons, my guess is that a fair number of these guys self-selected North Park by contacting the coaching staff first. The All-State guys and likely most of the Scandinavians were definitely recruited by Kris Grahn and his staff.

As usual, summer preseason camp will winnow out a few of these guys. Then there will be a large reserve team that will play an extensive schedule, and the guys who aren't seeing much time on the reserve team will drop off one by one of their own accord.

Last year's roster was 51 so not sure how many drop off - they must have a reserve team.

As I said in the post you quoted, North Park does indeed have a reserve team. In fact, North Park has annually had a reserve team dating back at least to the late '90s.

NPU picked up another commitment from Sweden that plays the striker position

Quite a run on strikers this off-season for the Vikings!

[Gotberg]

NPU picked up another midfield commitment.  If there are more commitments in the future, I won't likely post on this thread anymore, but this one is interesting because he is from Doha, Qatar.   

[soccerpapa]

Preseason (way too early/guessing) Massey Ratings for upcoming season.   Thoughts?

19 North Park
36 North Central
61 Carthage
113 Wheaton
164 Il Wesleyan
166 Elmhurst
178 Carroll
222 Millikin
305 Augustana

My initial thoughts are North Central and Carroll are both low based on last couple years.   Carroll is making strides has become competitive in the conference.  North Central has put together a few good years and had limited seniors graduate.   North Park has had a good run and decent incoming class based on above comments.   

Based on above what are thoughts on conference standings?  Is this what is to be expected? 

[Gregory Sager]

I agree. I think that North Central and Carroll are too low. I suspect that Wheaton is low as well; even though there's a danger in overestimating Wheaton just because it's a name-brand program and was for decades the undisputed boss of this league, I still think that Wheaton will manage to field a side in 2023 that ranks in the top quartile of D3. Even a down-cycle Wheaton always manages to reach that level.

[SimpleCoach]

Whither Augustana?  Reminds me of Alleghany College.  Once mighty.  Now meek.

SC.

[soccerpapa]

Greg - you seem to have a good pulse on the CCIW - what is your predicted order of finish this coming year for the conference?

North Park/North Central
Carthage
Carroll
Wheaton
Il Wesleyan
Elmhurst
Millikin
Agustana

A few lucky bounces one way or another and could completely change things. 

[Gregory Sager]

Whither Augustana?  Reminds me of Alleghany College.  Once mighty.  Now meek.

SC.

You have to go back a dozen years to find an Augie team that was even halfway decent, and it's been a good two decades now since Augie was a legitimate CCIW power, back when Scott Mejia coached the Augie men as well as the women. That always seemed weird, given how strong Augustana has traditionally been across the board in sports. But at least Augustana does have some glory days as a soccer program, which is more than Illinois Wesleyan -- another school with a lot of overall sports success but a perennial also-ran on the soccer pitch -- can say. (Illinois Wesleyan's perennially undistinguished performances have been strictly on the men's side, though; the women's soccer program at IWU has been very strong for a long time now.)

Greg - you seem to have a good pulse on the CCIW - what is your predicted order of finish this coming year for the conference?

North Park/North Central
Carthage
Carroll
Wheaton
Il Wesleyan
Elmhurst
Millikin
Agustana

A few lucky bounces one way or another and could completely change things.

That seems right to me. North Park vs. North Central is rapidly turning into Scandinavia vs. Italy, so I'm going to start calling this new soccer showdown the Meatball Rivalry.

[Gotberg]

It's worth mentioning that NP picked up a transfer commit from D1 Siena College.  Looks like he was Siena's leading goal scorer last year with a total of 8, playing at the striker position.  Comes in as a 3rd year student, in terms of eligibility I believe.

He had a twin brother at Siena who is not listed on their 2023 roster.  No idea his plans, if any.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park is really loading itself up top in this recruiting class, adding not just a D1 standout and a D2 standout at striker, but four freshman strikers as well:

Ludvig Almborg, G (Anderstorp, Sweden / IFK Värnamo)
Carson Belcher, F (Schaumburg, IL / Sockers FC)
Nicholas Chavez, M (Des Plaines, IL / Chicago Stars)
Anthony Chebat, M (Linköping, Sweden / Åtvidabergs FF)
Eduardo Cirillo, M (Island Lake, IL / Mundelein SC)
Emmanuel Delgado, M (Wheeling, IL / Chicago Stars)
Joshua Dyke, D (Växjö, Sweden / Östers IF)
Ville Hellström, D (Falun, Sweden / Slätta SK)
Carl Karlsson, D (Köping, Sweden / Köping FF)
Benhur Kidane-Ghirmey, S (Hønefoss, Norway / Hønefoss BK)
Xavier Lopez, D (Chicago, IL / FC Stars)
Jon Malumbres, M (Bilbao, Spain / Arenas de Gexto)
Magnus Otterlei, S (Brattvaag, Norway / Brattvaag IL)
Kevin Perez, S (Glenview, IL / Sockers FC)
Gaston Philipp, M (Doha, Qatar / Al Gharafa SC)
Edgar Quintero, M (Chicago, IL / Chicago Fire YSC)
Matthias Rønning, D (Bergen, Norway / FK Fyllingsdalen)
Thomas Rønning, M (Bergen, Norway / Smørås IL)
Vicente Sabbione, S (Northbrook, IL / Sockers FC)
Tim Sjöström, S (Hönö, Sweden / Öckerö IF)
Thomas Chaisee Storødegård, S (Stabekk, Norway / Siena College) (junior)
Emil Svenander, S (Täby, Sweden / Wingate University) (sophomore)
Mathias Sørum, M (Brumunddal, Norway / Brumunddal Fotball)
Ismael Zepeda, F (Cicero, IL / Chicago Fire YSC)
Noel Åberg, M (Halmstad, Sweden / Halmstads BK)

It's worth mentioning that NP picked up a transfer commit from D1 Siena College.  Looks like he was Siena's leading goal scorer last year with a total of 8, playing at the striker position.  Comes in as a 3rd year student, in terms of eligibility I believe.

Storødegård isn't just a D1 transfer, he was an All-MAAC first-teamer last season as well. So both of NPU's incoming transfer strikers not only led their team in goals and points, they were both named to the all-conference teams of their respective scholarship-level leagues.

NPU has had a lot of turnover up top over the past couple of seasons, what with Jesse Anamoo tranferring to the D1 level and Isak Flo graduating early. But it looks like the Vikings aren't going to miss a beat in terms of scoring ability.

North Park can also check off yet another country from its international student-athletes list as it adds its first-ever Qatari to the roll of Vikings.

[Gotberg]

North Park is really loading itself up top in this recruiting class, adding not just a D1 standout and a D2 standout at striker, but four freshman strikers as well:

Ludvig Almborg, G (Anderstorp, Sweden / IFK Värnamo)
Carson Belcher, F (Schaumburg, IL / Sockers FC)
Nicholas Chavez, M (Des Plaines, IL / Chicago Stars)
Anthony Chebat, M (Linköping, Sweden / Åtvidabergs FF)
Eduardo Cirillo, M (Island Lake, IL / Mundelein SC)
Emmanuel Delgado, M (Wheeling, IL / Chicago Stars)
Joshua Dyke, D (Växjö, Sweden / Östers IF)
Ville Hellström, D (Falun, Sweden / Slätta SK)
Carl Karlsson, D (Köping, Sweden / Köping FF)
Benhur Kidane-Ghirmey, S (Hønefoss, Norway / Hønefoss BK)
Xavier Lopez, D (Chicago, IL / FC Stars)
Jon Malumbres, M (Bilbao, Spain / Arenas de Gexto)
Magnus Otterlei, S (Brattvaag, Norway / Brattvaag IL)
Kevin Perez, S (Glenview, IL / Sockers FC)
Gaston Philipp, M (Doha, Qatar / Al Gharafa SC)
Edgar Quintero, M (Chicago, IL / Chicago Fire YSC)
Matthias Rønning, D (Bergen, Norway / FK Fyllingsdalen)
Thomas Rønning, M (Bergen, Norway / Smørås IL)
Vicente Sabbione, S (Northbrook, IL / Sockers FC)
Tim Sjöström, S (Hönö, Sweden / Öckerö IF)
Thomas Chaisee Storødegård, S (Stabekk, Norway / Siena College) (junior)
Emil Svenander, S (Täby, Sweden / Wingate University) (sophomore)
Mathias Sørum, M (Brumunddal, Norway / Brumunddal Fotball)
Ismael Zepeda, F (Cicero, IL / Chicago Fire YSC)
Noel Åberg, M (Halmstad, Sweden / Halmstads BK)

It's worth mentioning that NP picked up a transfer commit from D1 Siena College.  Looks like he was Siena's leading goal scorer last year with a total of 8, playing at the striker position.  Comes in as a 3rd year student, in terms of eligibility I believe.

Storødegård isn't just a D1 transfer, he was an All-MAAC first-teamer last season as well. So both of NPU's incoming transfer strikers not only led their team in goals and points, they were both named to the all-conference teams of their respective scholarship-level leagues.

NPU has had a lot of turnover up top over the past couple of seasons, what with Jesse Anamoo tranferring to the D1 level and Isak Flo graduating early. But it looks like the Vikings aren't going to miss a beat in terms of scoring ability.

North Park can also check off yet another country from its international student-athletes list as it adds its first-ever Qatari to the roll of Vikings.

You can add Thomas' brother Frederic to the commit list.

[Gotberg]

NPU picked up one more commitment from the same Norwegian club, where the Siena College transfers also played. 

Apparently, that's the last expected commit, per the Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/npu_msoccer/

[Gregory Sager]

You can add Thomas' brother Frederic to the commit list.

Frederic must've been hurt last season, as he only got into five games for Siena. But the year previous he started 18 of the 19 games played by the Fighting Saints, recording two goals and four assists as a freshman in yet another winning campaign for Siena in 2021.

[Gregory Sager]

OK, then, here's the final list of NPU newbies:

Ludvig Almborg, G (Anderstorp, Sweden / IFK Värnamo)
Carson Belcher, F (Schaumburg, IL / Sockers FC)
Nicholas Chavez, M (Des Plaines, IL / Chicago Stars)
Anthony Chebat, M (Linköping, Sweden / Åtvidabergs FF)
Eduardo Cirillo, M (Island Lake, IL / Mundelein SC)
Emmanuel Delgado, M (Wheeling, IL / Chicago Stars)
Joshua Dyke, D (Växjö, Sweden / Östers IF)
Ville Hellström, D (Falun, Sweden / Slätta SK)
Carl Karlsson, D (Köping, Sweden / Köping FF)
Benhur Kidane-Ghirmey, S (Hønefoss, Norway / Hønefoss BK)
Xavier Lopez, D (Chicago, IL / FC Stars)
Jon Malumbres, M (Bilbao, Spain / Arenas de Gexto)
Magnus Otterlei, S (Brattvaag, Norway / Brattvaag IL)
Kevin Perez, S (Glenview, IL / Sockers FC)
Gaston Philipp, M (Doha, Qatar / Al Gharafa SC)
Edgar Quintero, M (Chicago, IL / Chicago Fire YSC)
Matthias Rønning, D (Bergen, Norway / FK Fyllingsdalen)
Thomas Rønning, M (Bergen, Norway / Smørås IL)
Vicente Sabbione, S (Northbrook, IL / Sockers FC)
Tim Sjöström, S (Hönö, Sweden / Öckerö IF)
Frederic Chaisee Storødegård, M (Stabekk, Norway / Siena College) (junior)
Thomas Chaisee Storødegård, S (Stabekk, Norway / Siena College) (junior)
Emil Svenander, S (Täby, Sweden / Wingate University) (sophomore)
Mathias Sørum, M (Brumunddal, Norway / Brumunddal Fotball)
León Weichbrodt-Ottesen, M (Vollen, Norway / Baerum SK)
Ismael Zepeda, F (Cicero, IL / Chicago Fire YSC)
Noel Åberg, M (Halmstad, Sweden / Halmstads BK)

This is mind-boggling work done by Kris and Karsten. This newbie list alone is almost the size of a typical D3 roster! And, while the résumés of the Storødegård twins and Emil Svenander clearly indicate that they'll be standouts at this level, one has to think that there is plenty more straight-to-varsity talent on that list among the freshmen -- particularly among the Swedes and Norwegians, although I'm not discounting the Chicagoland kids at all.

I'm pretty pumped to see that first Vikings scrimmage next month.

[Gregory Sager]

Sebastianus Uribe isn't coming back, so it looks like Alfie Swärd is once more the incumbent at GK for North Park in 2023. But there are five other GKs on the roster, so it isn't as though he won't get pushed.