On Nov. 1, after 110 minutes of action, the CCIW men’s soccer semifinals ended in a draw, 3-3. Thirteen thrilling penalty kicks (PKs) later, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans emerged victorious over the Wheaton College Thunder and celebrated their advance to the conference finals in Joe Bean Stadium.
Though the Thunder’s hot streak came to an end, players said there were still successes from the two hour semifinal, and lessons to learn as the team moves forward and begins to prepare for next fall’s season. Head coach Steve McCrath said he was encouraged by the hustle his team showed throughout the game.
“We played well,” said McCrath. “I think that everybody could stand back and say we were the better team, we did the better job, but they were grittier.”
Senior captain and goalkeeper Mason Escalante also came away with some bright spots in the game.
“Obviously it’s really heartbreaking to lose in the way that we did,” said Escalante. “But there was a lot of fight from a young group, especially as we overcame a 2-0 early deficit to give ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game.”
Escalante also said getting so close to winning the conference championship will encourage next year’s team to push harder for it then.
A win in the conference championship gives a team an automatic bid to the national tournament, putting them six wins away from a national championship. In 1984 and 1997, the Wheaton men’s team won the national title.
“Once you get into the tournament anything can happen, so just giving yourself an opportunity to have a run at the national championship is really all you can ask for,” said Escalante.
The team was relatively inexperienced, with no all-conference performers returning from last year. But McCrath led them to an 6-1-1 conference record, only losing their last regular season game to Millikin University.
The Thunder entered the conference tournament as the second seed out of nine teams, but the semifinals result led to a missed conference championship and national playoff opportunity.
The seniors on the team will still benefit from the extra year of eligibility that the NCAA granted all collegiate athletes who lost a season to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the last class that has a “COVID year” to use, so all three Thunder seniors, Brock Seneff, Noah Redman, and Escalante, will all return for their fifth season next fall.
“When I knew I had a chance to use that year of eligibility and a fifth year of school, I figured why not?” said Escalante. “You’re only a college athlete once in your life so might as well use all four years and enjoy it while you can.”
More enticing for the veteran players to return for an extra semester is the large part of the squad that is returning for the 2024 season.
“It’s exciting to have most of our team come back in the fall,” Seneff said. “We’re not losing many guys and we’re returning three all-conference guys, so we’re returning a lot of the same faces with more experience next season.”
For now, the team has eight months to prepare to reach these goals. McCrath said he trusts his team to train this offseason, knowing the glimpse of success this season has motivated the group.
“They’re learning to compete better and what it means to actually compete – so learning how we can get to the national playoffs. I think that is where we’re headed so I feel pretty excited and confident because I think the guys are going to be willing to put in the sweat.”
