NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The North Park University men’s soccer team will face Whitman College in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament on Saturday. The Vikings will travel to Collegeville, Minn. to take on the Blues on the campus of Saint John’s University.

North Park (13-1-5) was ranked No. 21 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches national poll and was also ranked third in Region VIII. The Vikings eked out a 3-3 draw with Wheaton College in the championship match of the CCIW Tournament this past Saturday and then won the shootout, 4-2, to claim the conference’s automatic bid to the national tournament.

Led by CCIW Offensive Student-Athlete of the Year Carson Belcher (nine goals, four assists) and CCIW First Year Student-Athlete of the Year Gustav Finér (nine goals, five assists), North Park has put together an impressive season under the guidance of head coach Kris Grahn. The lone loss of the campaign for NPU was in the season opener at the University of Chicago – currently ranked sixth nationally by United Soccer Coaches. Since that loss, the Vikings have gone unbeaten in 18 straight matches and tied for the regular season CCIW title with a 6-0-2 mark.

Whitman (14-3-3), based out of Walla Walla, Wash., went 12-2-2 in the Northwest Conference to win the regular season title. The NWC has no conference tournament, so the Blues earned the automatic bid thanks to their record in regular season play. Whitman’s offense is led by Kevin Serrano (nine goals) and Nathan Alvarado (five goals, five assists). Niclas Isensee has handled the majority of the goalkeeping duties on the season and the Blues have collectively compiled a goals-against average of 0.80 on the season.

The other matchup at the first-round site in Collegeville features No. 22 Saint John’s hosting MSOE. The winners of the two first-round matches will square off on Sunday.
 

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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.).