CHICAGO, Ill. – The North Park men's soccer team kicked off CCIW play with a 4-1 triumph over the Titans of Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday night at the Holmgren Athletic Complex. Gustav Ericsson assisted on three goals as the Vikings moved to 1-0 in the conference.
Both teams played a physical back and forth first 25 minutes. North Park finally got on the scoring sheet in the 27th minute when Ericsson put in a perfectly weighted through ball to the foot of Tobias Lunde who buried it in the back of the net to put NPU up by one. Nine minutes later, Angel Barriga won a free kick for the Vikings, which Ericsson took and skipped off the head of Peder Olsen for a 2-0 lead.
Late in the half, IWU earned a corner kicked a bumped in a towering header of their own to cut their deficit in half going into the locker room.
HALFTIME: North Park 2, Illinois Wesleyan 1
NPU was looking for the nail in the coffin in the second half, which they found only a quarter of an hour into the frame. Ericsson had another free kick which he lofted to the far post only to be battered in the back of the net with a thundering header by Jesse Anamoo.
Anamoo secured his brace when William de Carro flipped up a ball for Anamoo to run on a tap over the keeper and into the back of the net.
Alfred Sward and Oskar Rydberg split time between the pipes, with the one goal coming against Sward during his 77 minutes of play. NPU outshot the Titans 23-8 and had six corners to IWU's three.
FINAL: North Park 4, Illinois Wesleyan 1
What's Next?
The Vikings (6-3) host CCIW foe Carthage College (6-1-2) on Wednesday, September 29th at 7:30 PM.
