CCIW

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Gregory Sager

Quote from: blue_jays on November 04, 2019, 12:44:52 AM
Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 03, 2019, 08:41:12 PM
That question is best answered with another question: How much internal pressure is being brought to bear upon the current Wheaton coaching staff to get back to where the program used to be?

One thing you could always count on with Giuliano's teams was the talent level - he was a good recruiter. They reached the NCAA championship game for a reason, and not just cuz of the Golz brothers (though they were major factors). They were also able to get great transfers over the years like Ben Theimer, Matt Swartz, Drew Golz and Noah Anthony who became stars.

That doesn't answer my question, though, which perhaps can only be answered by a Wheaton insider.

I don't know how much pressure the Wheaton administration puts upon coaches to succeed, especially coaches in sports that have had major success -- and no sport has had major success for as long as men's soccer has had it at Wheaton.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 04, 2019, 09:49:21 AM
1. In my opinion, Football has taken over as the "premier" sport. Winning determines this and the success of the football team over the past 10 years has been significantly better than men's soccer (with the exception of the 2014 final 4 season).

2. Who would have guessed that the CCIW tourney would be without CC and WC? Even going into the final week, I figured IWU/EC would falter and either WC/CC would make it and give NPU a tough test.

I thought the same thing. But Wheaton ended up drawing two games it should've won -- I didn't see Wheaton vs. Augustana, but Wheaton had a lot more talent than Augie did, and in the Wheaton vs. Carthage contest, whose conclusion I did see, the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance had numerous point-blank chances to put the Red Men away in the final ten minutes of regulation and in both overtimes, and couldn't get it done. And then there's the match against North Central -- up by two goals in the second half at Joe Bean Stadium, Wheaton somehow coughed up a late hat trick to Alexis Flores and lost. And then it surrendered the equalizer to Peder Olsen with only 6:33 remaining in Saturday's match against NPU, although the relentless bombardment of the Vikings in and around the Wheaton box made it feel as though the goal would come eventually. Bottom line, Wheaton simply couldn't it done whenever it needed to. But Wheaton should be a better team next season. The Beaners don't lose anybody substantial, they get Biddlecome back and two solid backliners in front of him in Drew Beamer and Justin Hill, and I really like the games of Michael Groza and Stafford Dowling.

I've already talked plenty about Carthage. Suffice it to say that nobody embodies the phrase "playing to the level of the competition" more than the 2019 edition of the Red Men did. Steve Domin even admitted as much in his postgame comments in the AC @ CC gamer: "These kids have done so much on and off the field, and quietly plowed through some great teams while softening to others." His team will lose a ton in this year's senior class, but perhaps Carthage will be better served by turning over the minutes to new blood in 2020.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 04, 2019, 09:49:21 AM3. I don't think it will happen, but if NP fails to win the CCIW tourney, will they get an at large bid? It seems like a very similar situation as last year, where they didnt get in (there are 2 more spots this year).

That's the $64,000 question. It's why I called Saturday's draw deeply unsatisfying from the NPU point of view, and I think that every Vikings fan goes into tourney week with a certain amount of nervousness.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 04, 2019, 09:49:21 AM4. Gotberg, as a big fan of the rivalry between WC/NPU - I would say I follow the vikings secondary to the thunder. With that being said, I disagree with your assessment on Khoury. I think he can play the number 9 role - but is still just getting into shape after his injury. He was quite effective in 2017 and 2018 in that same role - with what I believe was less talent around him. If there was a player from the past that would solidify this team as a title contender, it would be Matt Bond or Ricky Pimentel. Both of those players were such rocks on the backline and would allow Erlend Kemkers to move back to his natural position in the midfield (Kemkers has been fantastic as their CB and one could argue he is the MVP on this team).

I think you nailed it, GoThunder1. Don't think that there haven't been moments when I've looked over at the NPU bench and saw Ricky Pimentel standing there in his coaching polo and thought, "If only ...". Besides Ricky and Bondo, I'd gladly accept Jakob Aronsson or Henrik Wihlborg or a healthy Gustav Leander out there in front of Stulen as well. And your suggestion that Erlend Kemkers is the arguable MVP has a lot of merit to it, too. He really has shored up CB despite the fact that it's not his natural position. Peder Olsen gets all the glory, and it's hard to dispute that a genuine two-way midfielder who's in the national top ten in goals and points doesn't deserve it. But Kemkers deserves some accolades sent his way -- as does Gustav Ericsson, who quietly goes about his business and plays flawless soccer every night, no matter what he's asked to do.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

GoThunder1

Greg,

I agree - those 4-5 CB's were tremendous in their day and would surely solidify the backline. If we are playing the what if's game, I'd like to do an All-Wheaton vs. All-North Park lineup (let's use the 2000's-now).

Wheaton/North Park:
GK - Ryan Souders/Austin Person
D - Noah Anthony/Matt Bond
D - Cory Weaver/Ricky Pimentel
D - Ben Theimer (Putting him at CB instead of CM)/Matias Warp
M - Steve Rigby/Gustav Ericsson
M - Marshall Hollingsworth/Kris Grahn
M - Elliot Borge/Peder Olsen
M - Matt Swartz/Fredrik Greiff
M - Joel Delass/Erlend Kemkers
F - Drew Golz/Jonas Pettersson
F - Strider Elass/Pedram Tahmi Masoli

Looking down the line, I can't give any advantage to either side - all I can say is that I would love to see this matchup. Wheaton has so much speed in this lineup, while North Park has so much skill. It would be quite the treat to see.

Gregory Sager

That wouldn't be a D3 match. That would be a lower-half D1 match without the scholarships.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gotberg

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 04, 2019, 01:27:28 PM
Greg,

I agree - those 4-5 CB's were tremendous in their day and would surely solidify the backline. If we are playing the what if's game, I'd like to do an All-Wheaton vs. All-North Park lineup (let's use the 2000's-now).

Wheaton/North Park:
GK - Ryan Souders/Austin Person
D - Noah Anthony/Matt Bond
D - Cory Weaver/Ricky Pimentel
D - Ben Theimer (Putting him at CB instead of CM)/Matias Warp
M - Steve Rigby/Gustav Ericsson
M - Marshall Hollingsworth/Kris Grahn
M - Elliot Borge/Peder Olsen
M - Matt Swartz/Fredrik Greiff
M - Joel Delass/Erlend Kemkers
F - Drew Golz/Jonas Pettersson
F - Strider Elass/Pedram Tahmi Masoli

Looking down the line, I can't give any advantage to either side - all I can say is that I would love to see this matchup. Wheaton has so much speed in this lineup, while North Park has so much skill. It would be quite the treat to see.

Good list.  The only player I'd insert for North Park would be Isaac Lee in the midfield - maybe take out Greiff?
I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. - George Best

Gregory Sager

Yep. And the beauty of having Freddie Greiff on your bench is that, like a Kemkers or an Ericsson, you could plug him in anywhere and get good value out of his minutes.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Christan Shirk

#1235
CENTRAL REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank

School
. Div. III .
Record
. Div. III .
SOS

 . R-v-R .
. Overall .
Record
. Prev. .
Rank
1.
Calvin
17-1-0
0.574
4-1-0
18-1-0
1
2.
Chicago
10-1-5
0.638
5-1-3
10-1-5
2
3.
North Park
13-4-1
0.607
3-3-1
13-4-1
3
4.
Kalamazoo
10-3-2
0.569
3-2-0
11-3-2
4
5.
North Central (Ill.)
11-5-2
0.580
2-2-0
11-5-2
5
6.
Wheaton (Ill.)
10-4-4
0.597
1-3-2
10-4-4
6
7.
Hope
13-5-0
0.573
1-4-0
13-5-0
7
Christan Shirk
Special Consultant and Advisor
D3soccer.com

Gregory Sager

#1236
It was a sleet-filled sky over Chicago tonight as justice rolled down like waters to the tune of a 2-0 North Park victory over an Elmhurst team that is an embarrassment to this league.

It was clear from the get-go that the Bluejays got off of the bus ready to hit people. And NPU gave back as good as it got for the first two-thirds of a chippy half that was veering dangerously out of control. Then, in the 29th minute, the Vikings worked an Olsen-DeCarne-Khoury moving-triangle play that culminated with Shatil Khoury rocketing home a sidewinder strike from the top of the box that put the Park up, 1-0.

At that point, Elmhurst coach Dave Di Tomasso sent Matt Conti over to midfield to check in. He got in at 30:08 and immediately started following Gianfranco DeCarne around the pitch, shoving and elbowing him in what was clearly not a man-mark -- Peder Olsen is the guy opponents mark, not DeCarne -- but an attempt at instigation. Di Tomasso was carded at 32:40 (EC's second yellow in less than a minute) and, after referee Calin Radosav again called for a stoppage at 33:14 right in front of the Elmhurst bench, Conti walked over to DeCarne, who was standing by himself on the opposite side of the field a good thirty yards away from everybody else, and knocked him down. Worse, once DeCarne was on the ground, Conti stomped on him.

The entire thing was caught on camera.

Conti immediately ran away, and as he passed Gustav Ericsson twenty yards upfield, Ericsson threw his shoulder into him. As is typical in cases like this, the ref missed the instigation and saw the retaliation, and he sent off Ericsson with a red. Thus ensued about five straight minutes of screaming by the North Park players, screaming by the North Park bench, and screaming by the North Park fans, but Radosav remained obdurate. He insisted that he had "people" who had told him that Conti had done nothing to DeCarne (what people, we all wanted to know, and how did they communicate this to Radosav on the field?), yet in the end he relented and gave Conti a yellow. This actually made it worse, as it was clearly meant to be a bone thrown in NPU's direction, but it was actually tantamount to an open admission by Radosav that he didn't know what the heck had happened.

So the upshot of the matter was that North Park was forced to nurse a one-goal lead while short-handed for over 56 minutes of a playoff game.

And that's exactly what the Vikings proceeded to do.

In fact, the Vikings not only shut out Elmhurst for the next 56 minutes while down a man, they only allowed one shot on goal over that entire span. And it was a routine 30-yard dud that Mathias Stulen could handle in his sleep. To be fair, the 'jays did get a shot from Hayden Mardsen in the 56th minute that struck the crossbar, but other than that EC couldn't even sniff a good chance. The Vikings defense was nothing short of magnificent. Part of the reason for the inability of the 'jays to challenge Stulen was their own incompetence; with the Vikings cutting up every 'jays advance at midfield even though short-handed, the visitors resorted to a steady diet of longballs from out of their end. But they had a strong 15-20 mph wind at their backs from out of the north that they failed to read properly, leading them to send one would-be homerun ball after another bouncing harmlessly across the endline without a Bluejay forward getting within twenty yards of it. But on the limited number of occasions when they did manage to hit a forward sitting down for an intermediate pass on the NPU side, the Vikings kept their composure and maintained defensive shape, dispossessing the Elmhurst ballhandlers almost at will. Barriga, Boström-Rydfjall, Berg-Domaas, Kemkers, and Lund in particular put on a clinic on how to break up an attack.

Karma was served piping hot at the 83:29 mark when, after Niclas Holgersson had shown up three Bluejays defenders in the left corner at the EC end by coming out with the ball, he back-passed it up the line to Angel Barriga, who in turn sent a diagonal into the box to DeCarne. The NPU junior midfielder played a textbook move, anticipating the pass by shifting behind it while shielding off the EC defender guarding him, and sent a strike into the lower right corner of the net that effectively ended Elmhurst's season and will long be remembered as the most satisfying shortie ever scored in NPU soccer history.

Lost in the shuffle were some alterations to the NPU recordbook. DeCarne's assist on the first goal tied him with Kris Grahn and Isaac Lee for the most career assists in program history at 25, and Olsen's assist on the same goal tied him with Pedram Tahmi-Masoleh's 2015 campaign for the most points in a season by a Viking with 42. (The assist also added on to the all-time-best career points total that Olsen has accumulated to date.) The shutout was the 19th clean sheet of Stulen's career, moving him into sole possession of third place on NPU's all-time list in that category behind Matt Evans and Austin Person.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that the Vikings are going to have to play the championship match without the services of one of the league's best players in Gustav Ericsson. No excuses are being offered here for his action, although if the game had been officiated competently it would've been played 10-on-10 for 56 minutes rather than 11-on-10. But the really unfortunate thing is that this is not the first time that Dave Di Tomasso has had his team play headhunter soccer. Ten years or so ago, in an NPU @ EC match played at the former home of the 'jays in Butterfield Park, I saw him sub in a goon that within thirty seconds of entering the game took a dive at the knees of one of the Vikings' best players when the ball was forty yards downfield, tearing his ACL and putting him out for the year. His teams have pulled all kinds of crap like that on the pitch over the years. He considers instigation and cheap shots to be valid coaching strategies. Of all the sports I follow in this league -- and I call nine of them as a broadcaster -- he's my least favorite coach in the CCIW, because he doesn't shy away from jeopardizing the health and safety of opposing student-athletes.

How satisfying it was to see his team board their bus with nothing to look forward to besides emptying out their lockers.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

Something pretty interesting happened in the other semifinal tonight, as North Central and Illinois Wesleyan each failed to score over the course of 110 minutes in Naperville. The Titans then won the shootout, 4-1, propelling them into their first-ever CCIW tourney final. The Titans and Vikings will meet at Hedstrand Field on Saturday night with the CCIW's autobid on the line.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

GoThunder1

Greg,

From an un-biased perspective in this situation, I appreciate your passionate write up on the NPU/EC game. As a viewer, I missed DeCarne getting knocked down, but the stomp was extremely clear (and the only reason I saw the stomp was because of all of the noise). I was shocked the ref had somehow missed it, as DeCarne appeared to have been pretty vocal when going down (as that is what caught my attention). Was it an intentional move by DT? I dont know. Based on the season stats, Conti leads the team in yellow cards - so he may just be an aggressive/reckless player. However, if it was unintentional I would have thought DT would have been quite upset with Conti's actions, which never seemed to be the case. Definitely puzzling. Although Ericsson should not have retaliated, I respect him having his teammate's back in this bizzare situation. Should he have been carded? Yes. Should he have received a red for bumping a guy down? Absolutely not. The ref should have been more aware of the situation at stake and the consequences of the red. Just my opinion.

I was able to catch the IWU/NCC ending. It looked like NCC controlled the run of play late, but IWU did a nice job of compacting space and getting it to PK's. Unlucky to hit the crossbar twice in PKs, however, I give credit to the 4 IWU players who converted extremely well placed PK's considering the gravity of what was at stake.

I expect IWU will deploy the same strategy on Saturday. We can expect to see NP control the ball for 80-90% of the game with IWU packing it in and trying to counter. I assume Grahn will move Kemkers out of the back and into Ericsson's spot, which is no drop off - however Kemkers will be missed in the back. Looking forward to an entertaining match!

blue_jays

#1239
Glad to see that the thuggery was rewarded with a loss. DT has long been an unpleasant sideline presence at best, and a downright embarrassment at worst. First game I ever watched involving him resulted in a first-half red card for behavior. The shoe fits in this case.

gustiefan04

DiTomasso has a very poor reputation throughout the Chicagoland, both at the collegiate and youth club levels. I am not at all surprised by the reports above, as I've seen it first hand at the U17-U19 club levels. His sideline demeanor is obnoxious. I know several youth players that had a lot of interest in attending/playing at Elmhurst but become very disenfranchised as DiTomasso's true colors start to show throughout the recruiting process.  Hard to believe he's lasted so long at Elmhurst.

Gotberg

DT has always reminded me of John Kreese.....
I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. - George Best

Gregory Sager

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 07, 2019, 08:31:23 AM
Greg,

From an un-biased perspective in this situation, I appreciate your passionate write up on the NPU/EC game. As a viewer, I missed DeCarne getting knocked down, but the stomp was extremely clear (and the only reason I saw the stomp was because of all of the noise). I was shocked the ref had somehow missed it, as DeCarne appeared to have been pretty vocal when going down (as that is what caught my attention). Was it an intentional move by DT? I dont know.

It occurred to me last night to ask you if Wheaton ever had any goonery issues with Di Tomasso's Elmhurst teams, especially during the Hollingsworth/Golz era. He only seems to lean that way when his teams are badly outmatched in terms of talent.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 07, 2019, 08:31:23 AMBased on the season stats, Conti leads the team in yellow cards - so he may just be an aggressive/reckless player.

... and he only averages 37 minutes per game, which is telling.

Thing is, though, his mugging of DeCarne had nothing at all to do with the flow of the game itself, as it came during a dead ball. Radosav signaled for a stoppage when he and almost all of the players were over by the Elmhurst bench on the southwest side of the field, and Conti and DeCarne were all alone on the southeast side (aside from Ericsson, who was twenty yards upfield).

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 07, 2019, 08:31:23 AMHowever, if it was unintentional I would have thought DT would have been quite upset with Conti's actions, which never seemed to be the case. Definitely puzzling.

I think that he immediately took Conti out because he had accomplished his mission. If he was that upset with Conti, he wouldn't have re-inserted him in the second half. (Conti had a chorus of boos thrown his way by Foster's Finest, NPU's student section, every time that he touched the ball after being re-inserted.) I was pleased that he was on the pitch when DeCarne knocked home the coup de grâce in the 84th minute.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 07, 2019, 08:31:23 AMAlthough Ericsson should not have retaliated, I respect him having his teammate's back in this bizzare situation. Should he have been carded? Yes. Should he have received a red for bumping a guy down? Absolutely not. The ref should have been more aware of the situation at stake and the consequences of the red. Just my opinion.

I agree, although I would've been mollified if Radosav had shown the red to Conti as well. Then he could've legitimately claimed that he had done his job to get the game under control, and justice would've been served where it most badly needed to be served.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 07, 2019, 08:31:23 AMI was able to catch the IWU/NCC ending. It looked like NCC controlled the run of play late, but IWU did a nice job of compacting space and getting it to PK's. Unlucky to hit the crossbar twice in PKs, however, I give credit to the 4 IWU players who converted extremely well placed PK's considering the gravity of what was at stake.

The Titans certainly seem to have had NCC's number this year, which really surprises me; there's a not-huge-but-noticeable gap in talent between the two teams in North Central's favor. Kudos to the Titans, though, for forging their second straight clean sheet of November soccer.

Quote from: GoThunder1 on November 07, 2019, 08:31:23 AMI expect IWU will deploy the same strategy on Saturday. We can expect to see NP control the ball for 80-90% of the game with IWU packing it in and trying to counter. I assume Grahn will move Kemkers out of the back and into Ericsson's spot, which is no drop off - however Kemkers will be missed in the back. Looking forward to an entertaining match!

I think that that's a fair guess as to how NPU will play it. Kemkers came forward a surprising amount in last night's match for a CB on a short-handed team. It shows just how much Kris Grahn trusts Kemkers' judgment, and rightly so -- not once did Kemkers get caught too far downfield.

Quote from: Gotberg on November 07, 2019, 10:51:49 AM
DT has always reminded me of John Kreese.....

Fantastic analogy!

(Does that make Kris Grahn the Swedish Mr. Miyagi? ;))
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

GoThunder1

I remember a couple of instances in the late 2000's (Elmhurst was a solid team, consistent top 4) and he would implement the same type of aggressive tactics. He didnt need to do it, as EC had talent - but it just seemed to be his style. I remember Hollingsworth being fouled 4-5x in the first half and Guiliano sitting him out for the majority of the 2nd half on a 2 goal cushion. In the WC/EC game this year, he was extremely pleasant - but that probably had more to do with EC jumping out to a 3-0 lead and cruising to victory.

Falconer

Greg,

I have no doubt that you accurately and objectively described the out-of-bounds behavior of thata player and coach. As someone who spent his career in education (HS, college & university levels), as you apparently have also, it is simply shocking to me that the coach gets away with this. As we both know, he should be fired tomorrow. Is he perhaps also the AD at his college, such that the AD won't take that step? True enough, there was some outrageous behavior by D1 coaches in other sports a generation or two ago--I will leave out names, since this is about D3 soccer now, not other stuff a long time ago. But, it's beyond belief to me that the administrative people would knowingly condone this by overlooking it. Even if common decency and their reputation were cast aside, the liability concerns are staring them in the face. What if the NPU player had received broken bones/major concussion? Or worse? Either way, this is actually a crime, as far as I know--a felony to be precise. Something very serious needs to happen, IMO, and maybe this thread will actually result in that. I hope so.