CCIW

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW opening day results are in:

(Well, sort of opening day. Elmhurst and Carthage got a head start last Wednesday, with the 'jays topping the Firebirds 1-0 in Kenosha.)

Illinois Wesleyan 1, North Central 1 in Naperville
Carroll 0, Augustana 0 in the QC
North Park 3, Wheaton 2 in Chicago
Millikin 2, Carthage 0 in Kenosha

Initial thoughts:

* Not used to seeing Carthage start off 0-2, especially when those two initial losses involved being shut out at home by teams that aren't typically upper-echelon CCIW outfits. The Firebirds are certainly having some struggles this season.

* Is Millikin for real? The Big Blue started off the season with three ugly losses, but they've taken care of business lately, and for now I'll credit them with a quality win yesterday at Keller Field.

* Illinois Wesleyan has zero quality wins -- the Titans have played an absurdly easy schedule to date -- but drawing at NCC yesterday was certainly an impressive result. Gotta give them that.

* Speaking of the Cardinals, those three straight games they played against MI Double A teams, all on the other side of the lake, really seem to have knocked them down a peg or two. And yesterday's outcome against IWU didn't help matters.

* Wheaton has a craptastic record this season, but don't be fooled by that. And don't be fooled either by the ridiculously lopsided statistics against them in their two losses in the Windy City over the past four days. The Orange and Blue are a decent team that can take a lot of blows and then get you with outstanding counters. Aside from their two-goal loss to PLU nobody's beaten them by more than a single goal this year, including the two Chicago-based powerhouses. They'll be heard from in the CCIW race.

* I'm really starting to like this North Park team. The Vikings aren't flying under the radar anymore, since they're receiving votes in the national poll, but they seem to be embracing their lot as the primary CCIW contender du jour. They're taking care of business against lesser teams and finding ways to beat the better ones.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton jumped into the win column with a convincing 3-1 triumph over Millikin at Joe Bean Stadium last night. Illinois Wesleyan improved to 1-0-1 in league play with a 3-0 throttling of Augustana at Neis Field, and, although Carthage did manage to end five halves of CCIW scoreboard silence with a second-half tally last night, the Firebirds still succumbed to Carroll up in Waukesha, 2-1.

In the lone non-conference game last night (North Central vs. Edgewood was postponed), #25 North Park put down a stingy UW-Platteville side, 1-0, on a set-piece header goal by CB Dennis Rinne in the 81st minute at Holmgren.

[Gregory Sager]

Let's cover yesterday's results by starting with one of the two non-conference contests, because the one played in the western suburbs is the elephant in the room.

Wheaton lost to Calvin yesterday by a score of 7-0. No, that's not a typo. Calvin found the back of the Wheaton net seven times, while the Knights turned in a clean sheet at the other end of the pitch. Worse, the pitch in question was Joe Bean Stadium. Even worse, it was Wheaton's Homecoming game. Still worse, Wheaton's 2006 national runner-up team was honored at halftime for the 20th anniversary of their storied season.

Wow.

When I first saw the score yesterday I figured that it must've been a red card game, because those can sometimes get out of hand, especially if the losing team gets two red cards and has to play 9 vs. 11 for any substantial amount of time (which is what happened when NPU went to Augustana last season). But, no, Wheaton played all 90 minutes yesterday with 11 men on the field.

This must be Wheaton's worst defeat ever -- which is really saying something, because the Orange and Blue have been playing intercollegiate soccer since the Great Depression, generations before any other CCIW school embraced the sport.

Speaking of North Park going to Augustana, NPU paid a return visit to Thorson-Lucken Field yesterday and came away with a 2-1 win. The visiting Vikings had the run of play all day and enjoyed numerous opportunities to score, but couldn't find the back of the net until the second half. They blew the shutout by getting greedy and sending too many men forward at the end of the game rather than just riding out the win by playing keepaway, which led to an Augie counter goal in the 87th minute.

North Park is a pretty battered outfit right now, with multiple starters out injured, but the Vikings are nevertheless all alone in 1st place as the only unbeaten and untied team remaining.

I watched some of the Millikin @ Carroll game, which was entertaining if a bit cringeworthy for those who enjoy good defense. To Carroll's credit, the Pioneers came back from a two-goal deficit to send the Big Blue home sulking on the CCIW's longest busride after Carroll's 5-4 win.

North Central got a goal from Alecs Duncevic in the opening minutes, his sixth of the season, and made it stand up for a 1-0 victory over Elmhurst at Langhorst. NCC thus kept pace with idle Illinois Wesleyan in a third-place tie at 1-0-1, a half-game behind Carroll at 2-0-1.

In the other non-con game, Carthage lost at home to Loras, 1-0. I watched some of this game as well, and the Firebirds spent very little time on the Loras side of Keller Field, even less in the forward third. Carthage's offensive struggles are obviously an ongoing issue.