Men’s Soccer to Take on Wheaton in CCIW Semifinals

Kick off set for 7 p.m.

10/31/2023 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - After advancing past the quarterfinals in penalty kicks, the Illinois Wesleyan University men's soccer team moves on to play in the CCIW semifinals this Wednesday, Nov. 1 against second-seeded Wheaton College at Joe Bean Stadium. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. under the lights.

The Titans took on the Vikings in a wild ending between the two teams. After scoring in the 13th minute of the game, North Park thought it had notched an easy 1-nil win. With five minutes left in the game senior Sasha Tylnyy (Wheeling Ill.-Buffalo Grove) assisted a header to fellow senior CJ Rodriguez (Santa Barbara, Calif.-Dos Pueblos) to tie the game up 1-1.

The Titans and the Vikings went on to play 20 minutes of overtime where both teams scored an extra goal, tying the game up again at 2-2 and prompting a penalty kick shootout to determine the advancing team. The Titans ended up winning the shootout, 7-6. Sophomore Sam Kedzior (Cary, Ill.-Cary Grove) played a key role in helping the Titans advance. He totaled four saves in the match and faced six penalty kicks to lead the Titans into the next game.

The Titans are going into this Wednesday's game 5-6-4 and are 3-3-2 in conference while the Thunder at Wheaton College are 11-5-1 and are 6-1-1 in conference. Wheaton, the second seed going into the tournament, had a bye on Saturday.

The Titans and the Thunder last played each other in September during the regular season where the Thunder bested the Green and White 1-nil, but the teams have been playing each other dating back to 1988. The teams have met a total of 37 times but only two of those have been in past CCIW tournaments. They have met each other in the tournament in 2012 and 2003 but the Titans were bested in both matches against the Thunder.

The winner of the semifinal match will advance to the CCIW Championships, Saturday, Nov. 4 and will face the winner of the North Central vs. Carthage game.

The live stats can be found here, and the live stream can be found here.

Print Friendly Version