North Park, Wheaton are NCAA Bound in Men’s Soccer

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The NCAA announced its pairings for the 57-team men’s soccer tournament on Monday and the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin will have two teams competing for a chance at a national title after Wheaton earned an at-large bid and North Park made the field via the automatic qualifier.

North Park defeated Wheaton 1-0 in the championship game of the CCIW Men’s Soccer Tournament last Saturday. However, the Vikings (11-6-1) won the automatic qualifier based on a point system in the conference, while the win over Wheaton clinched the conference championship.

Wheaton earned one of the 17 at-large bids after finishing the regular season with a 15-5-1 regular season record.

North Park will face Macalester (13-4-2) in a four-team regional at Dominican in River Forest, Ill., at 11 a.m. on Nov. 12, while Wheaton plays UW-Whitewater (14-2-1) in a four-team regional in Whitewater, Wis., at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11. Wheaton defeated Whitewater 3-0 on October 28.

Full Bracket (PDF)