BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's soccer team looks ahead to opening weekend of the NCAA Division III Tournament, Friday-Saturday, Nov. 11-12 in La Crosse, Wis. The Titans are scheduled to open the weekend against Concordia University-Wisconsin in the first round of the tournament Friday, Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. No. 13 UW-La Crosse will host the Titans in addition to CUW and Greenville University for the first and second rounds of the national tournament.
Ahead of IWU's clash with CUW, UW-La Crosse and Greenville will compete at 3 p.m. The winner of each first round match will advance to Saturday, Nov. 12 for the 5 p.m. second round showdown.
The Titans enter the tournament with an overall 10-4-3 record, CUW holds a 17-3-2 standing, UWL welcomes the teams with a 19-1-1 record, and Greenville travels to the host site with a mark of 13-6-2.
Live stats and a live stream will be available for the game and links to follow along can be found on the women's soccer schedule page of IWUsports.com.


CONFERENCE CHAMPS: IWU earned the program's fifth automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament Championship Saturday, Nov. 5. The No.1 seeded Titans took on No. 2 seeded North Central College and claimed the title after a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals. The Titans are the only CCIW school in the national field after IWU won the league's regular season and tournament titles for the fifth time in program history. Concordia-Wisconsin also won its conference championship in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and earned the distinction for the program's second time. The Falcons, seeded fourth entering the tournament, faced No. 3 seeded Illinois Tech, where CUW came out on top after a 1-0 decision. Greenville and UW-La Crosse also punched their way to the tournament by way of a conference title.


SHORT AND SWEET: IWU and CUW have only squared off once before, just last season Oct. 3, 2021 in Bloomington. There, the Titans came out with a 4-3 overtime win against the Falcons, and look to continue the streak in the NCAA first round. Sophomore Tegan Timerman (Peoria, Ill.-Peoria Notre Dame) secured the overtime win with a 94th minute golden-goal.
Out of the three teams in IWU's first weekend bracket, No. 13 UW-La Crosse is the familiar face for the Titans. Not only did the Eagles and Titans faceoff this season, the teams have met a total of five times. In the Green and White's home opening weekend, the nationally-ranked Eagles traveled to Bloomignton where IWU earned a 2-1 win. To this date, the Titans are the only loss for the Eagles this season. If IWU was to advance to a Saturday game against Greenville, the two squads would meet for the first time ever.


LUCKY NUMBER 13: The Titans' five automatic-bids are not the only time IWU has competed in the tournament. Dating back to 2002 IWU has made a postseason NCAA run 12 times with the 2022 campaign marking the 13th appearance in IWU's all-time history. Eight times, IWU has been invited to the tournament as an at-large bid.
Just twice, in the historic 2014 final-four and in the 2015 third-round runs, IWU made it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. All other appearances, the Green and White have been successful in round one, advancing to the second round each time but twice.


SUEEEEEE: Fifth-year senior Caelyn Steffens (Normal, Ill.-Normal community) put together a record-breaking CCIW season. The CCIW Offensive Player of the Year for the third straight season, Steffens also set the conference's single-season records with 15 goals and 32 points over eight CCIW games. Additionally, a two-time CCIW Offensive Player of the Week awardee this season, the Normal, Ill. native recorded three hat tricks in conference play this year. The senior leads the Titans with 42 points this season credited to 19 goals and four assists.


SHE'S A FRESHMAN: Freshman Sawyer White (Downers Grove, Ill.-Montini Catholic) was named the CCIW Newcomer of the Year and has been an excellent addition to the Titan lineup. The freshman is just the fifth Titan to be named the league's newcomer of the year and joins Steffens, who was knighted in 2019. White has played and started in all 17 matches for the Green and White. The Downers Grove, Ill. native has notched six assists, tied for second-best among IWU this season. Four of the six were earned in conference contest only is good for third-best in the CCIW, behind two Titan women's soccer players in seniors Jenna Li (Haslett, Mich.-Lansing Christian) (6) and Lauren Shanks (Bloomignton, Ill.-Central Catholic) (5).


All-CCIW: Five Titans were honored as All-CCIW selections. Steffens earned first team distinction along with Lauren Shanks (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic). Shanks has been a key offensive threat for IWU. With a total of 31 points, the senior is second on the team in goals with 11, a career-high, and leads in assists with nine. Shanks put up a five-point showing in IWU's CCIW Championship game, Nov. 5 to lead IWU to victory.
Three Titans were named to the CCIW Second Team. Li, White, and sophomore goalkeeper Kayla Borg (McHenry, Ill.-Cary Grove) were recognized. Borg, IWU's standout goalkeeper, led the CCIW in shutouts after recording five blank sheets this season alone, all in conference contests.


WIZARD OF OZ: In his first year at the helm for IWU, head coach Oz Bakirdan was named the CCIW Coach of the Year. Bakirdan is just the second coach in IWU's history to be honored and the sixth time the Titans have been awarded this distinction as Dave Barrett was awarded the honor five times. Currently with a 10-4-3 record at IWU, Bakirdan becomes the only coach in IWU's history to lead the team to regular season and tournament championships in his first season.