CHICAGO, Ill. – The No. 9 North Park Men's Soccer team took care of business on Saturday, putting the first "L" in Carroll University's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) record with a 2-0 win. This is the 10th shutout for North Park this season and the sixth shutout win.
Carroll put the burners on right away, as the Pios' David Serra raced at North Park goalkeeper Ludvig Almborg, putting a shot on goal that was saved just 21 seconds into the contest. However, the next Pioneer shot on target would not arrive until Serra sent one in again in the 31st minute.
Before that, North Park ripped a pair of shots by sophomore midfielder Vydar Rydell and gained three corner kick chances, taken by Rydell and junior defender Hugo Neborg. In the 10th minute, the Vikings drew a fall just outside of the box to have a good look at a scoring opportunity. Rydell's left-side free kick found the head of leaping junior defender Teo Helm, who enjoyed his senior night with a 10th minute score.
This 1-0 advantage would hold through the first half of play.
North Park added one more goal early in the second half and continued to negate any chances Carroll would try to drum up. That aforementioned goal, occurring in the 51st minute, was also built by a free kick. Rydell's free kick once more found the upper half of Helm before fifth-year midfielder Jostein Blindheim cleaned up the rest on the goal line, marking his third goal in as many matches.
Now with a 2-0 advantage, North Park would dispel any Carroll offense while continuing to look for opportunistic scoring schemes. Much of that defensive work was from Helm, sophomore midfielder Eduardo Cirilo, Neborg, and freshman midfielder Bastian Eikeland. Any time the Pioneers turned their back to the goal with the ball in their possession, the Viking defense would poke it away, deflating the Pioneers with each turnover. Almborg also did some of the heavy lifting, saving some tricky shots from free kicks that made it his way. He had six saves on the evening - the most shots he's stopped since Dubuque on September 21.
Fieldside shots from NPU Media
What's Next?
After taking a week off competition, North Park (11-1-4, 4-1-1 CCIW) stays on the road by heading to Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on October 26 for a match at North Central College (6-4-4, 2-2-1 CCIW). Kickoff in Naperville is set for 2:00 PM CT.
