As is the case with every edition of the North Park men's soccer team under head coach John Born, the squad is looking to improve upon last year's record, earn a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship and a spot in the NCAA Division III National Tournament for a chance at winning the first national title in school history.

But things are a little different this year, the first time in four years. Three-time All-American and a four-time All-CCIW First Team selection Kris Grahn is no longer donning the Viking uniform. Instead, he's helping lead the Vikings with Born on the sidelines as the team's graduate assistant.

So how will North Park be able to fill the void left by Grahn?

“Kris is someone you can't replace, but the other seniors we have are tremendous talents and great leaders,” Born said. “Expect this year to be more of a collective team effort rather than one (go-to player) that everyone is following. Last year's injury to Filip Lindmark was a detriment and he was barely on the field for five matches, never at 100 percent. He is healthy and ready to go. We expect him to not only flourish but to lead the team.”

In addition to Lindmark returning to the starting lineup, Born expects the depth of the team to be its biggest strength.

“Being able to play 15-20 guys a game and having competition for spots is something that will carry us,” he said.  “Hopefully we stay healthy and injury free. Last year was dicey and we were fighting it all year. But I look forward to having so many players on the field.”

A total of five seniors return to a squad that finished with an 11-4-3 record, and a 4-2-1 mark in the CCIW. The Vikings lost to Carthage in the CCIW championship game by a close 3-2 edge in overtime, and ended the season with a tough 4-1 loss to Luther College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

“We have a very demanding schedule and probably hardest ever,” Born said.  “But our schedule will be the reason for our success or our downfall. The difficulties of last year's season were so many new players and not the best team chemistry. Improving on that has been our focal point all off season.”

After opening the season with NCAA Tournament qualifiers Dominican University and Carroll University, the Vikings open the conference slate by hosting CCIW nemesis Wheaton College.

“There is no easy team in the conference anymore and that's evident by North Central beating us last year who was not a top-four team,” Born said. “The target is now on Carthage for their fantastic 2011 season. Wheaton, Elmhurst, and Illinois Wesleyan -- everybody is strong.”

Not having Grahn in the lineup will be a challenge for North Park, but returning senior goalkeeper Tim Ahlberg, who led the team with 77 saves and a 81.1 save percentage rate as well as leading goal-scorer sophomore Jonas Pettersson (13 goals), sophomore Fredrik Greiff, who was third on the team in goals, and junior Robin Hals (team-leader in assists) should make the transition as smooth as possible.

“We will do everything better and rely less on one or two players,” he said. “The off season focus of team bonding, team chemistry, leadership will play a huge role into our success. Nobody was happy with last year's season which is a good thing. When you can go 11-4-3 and make it to the NCAA tournament and feeling that the season was a failure is in many ways a good thing.”

North Park opens the season Friday when it travels to Concordia University Chicago for a 4:30 p.m. contests.