NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Four-time defending champion Wheaton was picked to win the 2016 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) men’s soccer title according to a conference-wide preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday.
 
The Thunder (15-4-3, 6-1-0), under the direction of head coach Jake DeClute, won the poll with 62 points and six first place votes after the Thunder captured their 20th CCIW title in 2015. Wheaton also qualified for its fourth-straight NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship and advanced to the sectional final last season. It was the program’s 35th NCAA appearance, which includes national titles in 1984 and 1997.
 
Defending CCIW Tournament champion Carthage (12-8-3, 4-2-1), under the direction of head coach Steve Domin, was second in the poll with 55 points and two first place votes. The Red Men earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA postseason with their first CCIW Tournament title since 2011.
 
North Park (12-4-2, 3-2-2) was third with 53 points and one first place vote after a fifth-place finish in 2015 where the Vikings just missed qualifying for the CCIW Tournament by one point.
 
Elmhurst (8-8-3, 4-2-1) placed fourth with 43 points after the Bluejays made their third-straight CCIW Tournament appearance last season.
 
North Central (5-14-1, 4-3-0) was fifth in the poll with 30 points. Last year, the Cardinals advanced to the CCIW Tournament championship match in their first tournament appearance under the current format. North Central won the CCIW title in 1991 by virtue of winning the conference tournament under the old format.

Carroll (8-9-2, 7-2-1 in Midwest Conference), competing in the CCIW for the first time since 1991, was sixth with 25 points. Illinois Wesleyan (6-9-2, 2-5-0) placed seventh with 23 points. 

Augustana (5-13-1, 2-5-0) and Millikin (10-7-0, 1-6-0) rounded out the poll with 18 and 15 points respectively.
 
Voting is done by the CCIW's head men’s soccer coaches. Each coach votes for the eight other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.
 
The CCIW soccer season begins Thursday, September 1. The CCIW Preseason Football Poll will be announced Thursday, August 11.
 
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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, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2015-16 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,600 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and over 100 all-Americans.