River Forest, Ill. -- With the regular season finale on the horizon, the Concordia University Chicago men's soccer team (9-5-2 ,6-3-2) finds themselves right in the thick of things in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) playoff hunt. They currently rank fifth in the standings, with the top six teams qualifying for tournament play.
It was only two short years ago the program got their first-ever taste of postseason play. Now, Head Coach Michael Arango and his team are on the verge of a third-straight trip to the NACC Tournament, thanks in large part to a program-record six-game winning streak between Oct. 6-20.
They will wrap up their regular season with a trip down Division Street to face rival Dominican University this Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. The Stars currently sit in second place in the NACC standings, with a conference record of 8-2-1. They've won two-consecutive NACC regular season titles and four-straight tournaments.*
It's a new year, however, and the Cougars not only have a chance to reach the conference tournament but to make some noise while they're there. They've already defeated the fourth-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), their first win over the Raiders since 2004. They also played the third-place Benedictine University Eagles to a 2-2 draw on the road in the conference opener in September.
The formula for clinching a playoff berth at Dominican is simple: Win (or draw) and you're in. The Cougars are a game up in the loss column on the sixth-place Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) Falcons despite falling to them this past weekend.
Even if they are unable to come away with a point against the Stars, the Cougars can still clinch a spot with a loss by CUW OR a loss or draw by Aurora University. The Falcons will be taking on Lakeland University while Aurora will battle Benedictine. Much like Dominican, the Eagles will have something to play for in their final game. Both teams have identical conference records but only one will secure the second seed and the first-round bye that comes with it.
If CUC is to win, they will open the door to potentially hosting a postseason game for the first time in program history. This would require some help on the part of Wisconsin Lutheran College, as they take on MSOE later that evening. A Cougar win and Raider loss would pit the two against each other at Concordia Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 30, at 2:30 p.m. in a matchup of the fourth and fifth seeds.
There are several possibilities for CUC, as they can finish anywhere between fourth and seventh in the final standings. They have three possible first round opponents: MSOE, Dominican, and Benedictine. Those three teams will battle for the second-fourth seeds, with MSOE trailing the others by two points but holding the tiebreaker over both.
Regardless of which outcome shakes out, the Cougars appear poised to begin a third-straight postseason run on Saturday. If they win, they'll advance to the semi-finals for the first time ever the following Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Coverage for Wednesday's game and the entire postseason can be found on cucougars.com/coverage.
*The 2020 season featured two separate divisions, with Dominican winning the South regular season and tournament titles.
