CHICAGO - The 2026 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Men’s Soccer Tournament was a microcosm of the season as a whole. Three of the five matches in the tournament – including the championship match – went to penalties to determine a winner and on Saturday the final bragging rights went to North Park University. The Vikings (13-1-5) saw a two-goal lead in the second half erased by Wheaton College, but managed to get the match to a shootout with a 3-3 draw and then took down the Thunder (6-9-5) on penalties, 4-2.
After two consecutive championship match losses, North Park got it right on its third attempt and claimed the program’s first CCIW tournament title since 2019. The Vikings also guaranteed themselves a return to the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament after a one-year hiatus.
To get there was anything but easy. Luke Vander Kolk gave Wheaton the lead in the 21st minute with a ball played out of midfield by Sam Brown that he was able to run onto and take with his first touch, lofting it over Arvid Skoglund, off the crossbar and down across the line to give the Thunder the 1-0 lead.
North Park fought back quickly, leveling the score in the 27th minute when Bastian Eikeland took a pass from Gustav Finér, shook a defender, and shot left-footed low into a corner to make it 1-1.
The Vikings then began to pile on the pressure as the half wore on and the payoff came in the 42nd minute with a ball played straight up the line by Emil Soelscher on the left wing and then crossed in low from Vilmer Af Klinteberg into the path of the onrushing Emil Svenander to make it 2-1 at the break.
Af Klinteberg supplied the helper before halftime, then he put himself on the scoresheet in the 59th minute. Svenander held up play nicely against pressure from a Wheaton defender and was able to play the ball forward. Af Klinteberg sent a shot in on goal and it appeared to take a deflection off a sliding Thunder defender, leaving Wheaton goalkeeper Oli Piasecki wrong-footed as the ball sailed in, making it 3-1.
Wheaton refused to give in, starting its comeback in the 70th minute. Skoglund made the initial save of a shot from David Vezza, but the ball stayed in the danger area and Reuben Bos was the first on the spot to deal with the rebound and make it 3-2.
In the 75th minute, the Thunder found their equalizer. From a free kick near the halfway line, the ball was headed around and Cooper Falling found himself in the right spot as the ball fell to the top of the box. He did well to control the spin and kept it low through the crowd of bodies, putting his shot past Skoglund before the North Park keeper ever really saw it.
A series of near-misses followed throughout the remainder of regulation and overtime. Bos fizzed a shot over the crossbar in the 77th minute and in the final minute of the 90 North Park was whistled for offside on what could have otherwise been the game-winning goal.
In the shootout, Melker Regland went into goal for North Park and his presence was felt with a pair of saves that tilted the title in the direction of the Vikings. His save in the second round gave North Park a 2-1 lead and he kept NPU out in front, 3-2, with another save in the fourth round. That left the match on the foot of CCIW Offensive Player of the Year Carson Belcher. Piasecki guessed the right way on Belcher’s penalty, but the ball skimmed under his arms and in to secure the shootout victory for North Park.
Finér led North Park with six shots in the match, while Eikeland had another five (four on goal). Skoglund made two saves in the match before giving way to Regland for the shootout. Falling and Vezza had three shots each for Wheaton, while Piasecki made six saves for the Thunder.
North Park will await its postseason draw on Monday morning. The NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament Selection Show will begin on Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. CT. The opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be played on Nov. 14-15, with host sites to be named during the selection show.
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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, Ill.), Carroll University (Waukesha, Wis.), Carthage College (Kenosha, Wis.), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, Ill.), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.), Millikin University (Decatur, Ill.), North Central College (Naperville, Ill.), North Park University (Chicago, Ill.) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.).