NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Defending College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) champion Carthage was picked to win the 2017 conference men’s soccer title according to a preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday.
The Red Men (18-4-0, 8-0-0) placed first with 61 points and six first place votes after sweeping through the regular season and winning their third title in program history last year. Carthage, under the direction of head coach Steve Domin, also won its second-straight CCIW Tournament title (third in program history under the current format) and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship.
Wheaton (8-8-3, 5-3-0) placed second in the poll with 57 points and two first place votes after the Thunder finished third in the CCIW standings last season. Wheaton is the conference leader in regular season titles with 20, the last coming in 2015.
North Park (10-7-1, 6-2-0) was third with 52 points and one first place vote after the Vikings were second in 2016 and advanced to their sixth CCIW Tournament in seven years.
Elmhurst (8-7-3, 3-4-1) placed fourth with 38 points, followed by Illinois Wesleyan (9-8-1, 5-3-0) in fifth with 34 points and North Central (6-10-1, 3-5-0) in sixth with 28 points.
Millikin (8-7-2, 2-6-0), Carroll (7-10-1, 3-5-0) and Augustana (4-13-1, 0-7-1) rounded out the poll with 22, 18 and 14 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 men’s soccer season begins Friday, September 1. The CCIW Preseason Football Poll will be announced Thursday, August 10. Additionally, the CCIW will announce four new conference polls this fall including women’s tennis (August 22), men’s & women’s cross country (August 23) and women’s golf (August 24).
Twitter & Instagram: CCIW_Athletics
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 2016-17 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,900 academic all-conference recipients, 10 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 33 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, one CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year and over 100 all-Americans.