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November 10, 2017

Men’s Soccer: Championship Bound

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This weekend, North Park University and the Vikings will host their first NCAA Tournament games ever, as the team seeks a trip to the Sweet 16.

After dominating their conference all season, North Park and its top-ranked Men’s Soccer team will host the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament this Sunday.

Having earned the top seed in their bracket after a 17-1-1 season, the Vikings will enjoy a bye round as UW-Platteville faces off Saturday against Fulton, Mo.-based Westminster College. The Vikings will take on the winner of that game Sunday evening for a shot at the Sweet 16 and the possibility of hosting another round of the tourney.

The only other team to receive a first-round bye is #1-ranked Tufts University, winners of the 2016 NCAA DIII championship.

This year’s Viking team boasts a diverse, international roster, with players from as far as Sweden, Norway, Germany, and England, and as close as Chicago, Michigan, and Minnesota. One player hails from neighboring Von Stuben Metro Science High School. Among them, the team speaks 12 different languages.

“I have had the pleasure of coaching some amazing teams at North Park,” Head Coach John Born said. “However, the 2017 team is unparalleled in their talent as well as team chemistry.”

Tthe NCAA National committee announced the tournament seeding and hosting sites earlier this week.

“Being selected as a host site and rewarded with a first-round bye is a phenomenal honor,” Born said. “We’ll do our very best to represent North Park throughout the tournament. We certainly know that the entire North Park community is behind us, and we appreciate the tremendous support.”

The team has clearly benefited from North Park’s “strong cultural heritage”  tying it to Sweden and Norway since the school’s founding over 125 years ago, said NPU Athletic Director Jack Surridge. Scandinavians feel comfortable and welcome here, as each year NPU hosts dozens of them as students. It also doesn’t hurt that Assistant Coach Kris Grahn is a Swede. “He can pick up the phone or FaceTime with recruits in their native language,” Surridge said.

One of those is Norwegian senior midfielder Matias Warp, whose leg injury kept him off the highly competitive European and American Division I teams. Instead, he chose North Park, and other players followed.

Fellow Norwegian and goalkeeper Mathias Stulen has nine shutouts this season, and five of the CCIW’s top-10 scorers are Vikings, including Swede Carel Kawale and Norwegian Peder Nalum Olsen, who hold the number one and two spots, respectively.

The defense has been an iron curtain, led by defensive back Ricky Pimental, of Franklin Park, IL.

North Park will be live-streaming this weekend’s games on our Facebook page as well as athletics.northpark.edu.

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