Wheaton women’s soccer ‘relaxed’ heading to CCIW tourney

On the night before the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin women’s soccer tournament, Wheaton coach Pete Felske described his team as “relaxed” and “fairly confident.”

A 17-1-1 regular season — and a 15th CCIW regular-season title — will do that to a team.

The CCIW tournament “is more of a confidence builder,” Felske said. “If we can win the regular season and then the conference tournament, we can kind of keep an emotional edge.”

Wheaton opens the CCIW tournament Wednesday with a home match against Augustana. The Thunder will do so as the No. 1 seed and presumptive favorite to take the conference crown after winning the league’s regular-season championship with a 6-1 record. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid in the NCAA nationals tournament.

Wheaton is all but assured of an at-large berth into the NCAAs. But the Thunder won’t be able to sleepwalk through the CCIW tournament.

No. 4-seeded Augustana was only 4-3-0 in CCIW play and 11-7-1 overall, but the Vikings pushed Wheaton to two overtimes in a narrow 3-2 loss Oct. 19 and have played four straight games decided by one goal.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 Elmhurst (13-3-1, 4-2-1) is in the four-team conference tournament for the first time since 2003. The Bluejays opened league play with a pair of losses but closed with a scorching 5-0-1 run through what amounted to a series of elimination games. Elmhurst beat Wheaton 2-1 during that stretch and played No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan (13-3-1, 5-1-1) — the team the Bluejays will play Wednesday — to a 2-2 tie.

“The players really, really responded to the challenge,” Elmhurst coach Paul Webster said of his team’s six-game run. “We knew we couldn’t afford to lose any of those games.”

In the men’s tournament No. 1-seeded Carthage (12-5-2, 5-1-1) will host No. 4 Elmhurst (8-6-4, 3-2-2), and No. 2 North Park (10-2-3, 4-2-1) will be at home against No. 3 Wheaton (10-7-2, 4-2-1) on Wednesday.

The champions for both tournaments will be decided Saturday.

North Central: Winning the CCIW championship has long been a yearly tradition for the North Central men’s cross country team. But putting up a perfect score? That still produces a thrill.

North Central won a staggering 38th consecutive CCIW title in Chicago Saturday, sweeping the race’s top five spots for the sixth perfect score in team history.

“It’s an exciting moment,” said North Central coach Al Carius, who has been around for each of the Cardinals’ 45 team titles.

Matt Perez became North Central’s 31st individual champion — and third in three years — by finishing the 8,000-meter course in 25 minutes, 15.87 seconds. The junior paced himself at the start, making a push over the final portion of the race to best senior teammate Neal Klein.

Senior Dan Kerley and sophomores Kevin Sparks and John Crain rounded out the top five. The Cardinals were also perfect in 2009, 2004, 1999, 1997 and 1987.

“Each year has got to be started fresh,” Carius said. “You can’t expect the things that happened before to happen again.”

North Central swept the CCIW’s cross country titles when the women’s team won its third consecutive conference championship Saturday, finishing 17 points ahead of runner-up Illinois Wesleyan.

Senior Alicia Zimmerman (Wheaton Warrenville South) gave the Cardinals their second individual champion in as many years by finishing the 6,000-meter course in 22:46.72. Zimmerman is the sixth woman to win an individual title for North Central.

Junior Krista Cota locked up a 1-2 finish for the Cardinals by crossing the tape in 22:48.58. Senior Kala Bingham was the third Cardinal — and fourth runner — to finish with her time of 23:17.30.

“It was very exciting,” coach Mahesh Narayanan said. “That was a real nice step for the program.”

Both teams are off this week before heading to their respective NCAA Division III Midwest Regionals.

Football: The North Central football team set two school records and tied a national one during its 51-10 blowout win over CCIW rival Elmhurst at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium Saturday.

Junior defensive back Josh Mitchell broke a school record with a 93-yard interception return in the fourth quarter, and sophomore kicker Nick Dace booted three field goals to give him a program-best 23 for his career. The Cardinals have returned 6 interceptions for touchdowns this season, tying the national record.

The No. 6-ranked Cardinals (7-1, 5-0) have won 14 consecutive CCIW games and 22 regular-season home games going into Saturday’s home game against Wheaton.

Benedictine: Candice Cuppini had 10 kills, Abby Sattler racked up 28 assists, and the Benedictine women’s volleyball team rolled over Lakeland 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-17) Tuesday to advance to the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament semifinals.

Benedictine will play Edgewood at 7 p.m. Thursday for a spot in the finals.