Grinnell senior goalkeeper Sam Lancaster (right) has been named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Adidas College Division Scholar All-North/Central Region team.

Lancaster , a biology major with 3.56 GPA, was one of two goal keepers named to the 16-player team.

Lancaster was joined on the team by Derek Christensen of UW-Oshkosh, who was named to the Scholar All-America first team. Only nine keepers in the country were named to one of the four regional teams.

Lancaster, who started every game for the Pioneers since his sophomore season, is a multiple All-MWC performer and two-time team captain. He finished second in the league this season in goals against average at 1.25 while accumulating 70 saves.

NSCAA Scholar All-North/Central Region Team

Carroll senior defender J.J. Guttman (right), the 2007 MWC Player of the Year, was selected to the third team on 2007 D3Kicks.com NCAA Division III Men’s All-Central Region Team.

Guttman anchored a unit that limited MWC foes to nine total goals during the 2007 conference season and finished second in the league in total goals allowed (23) during the year. The Pioneers tallied eight shutouts during the season, blanking opponents in six of their final seven regular-season games and posting a pair of zeroes in MWC Tournament wins over Grinnell (1-0) and St. Norbert (2-0).

D3Kicks.com All-Central Region Team

Four MWC student-athletes, including a trio of players from MWC tourney champ Carroll, were selected to the 2007 NSCAA/Adidas NCAA Division III Men’s All-North Central Region Team.

Carroll senior defender J.J. Guttman (right), the 2007 MWC Player of the Year, and junior midfielder Derek Marie were joined on the second team by St. Norbert senior defender Amir St. Clair (left). Carroll sophomore forward Andy Prentice was honored on the third team.

Guttman anchored a unit that limited MWC foes to nine total goals during the 2007 conference season and finished second in the league in total goals allowed (23) during the year. Marie scored one goal and finished tied for third in the MWC with seven assists in 2007, while St. Clair helped the Green Knights limit MWC foes to a league-low six total goals. Prentice led the conference in points (25) after tallying 10 goals and five assists.

NSCAA/Adidas All-North Central Region Team

St. Norbert men’s soccer coach Dale Rhodes (right) has resigned his post after five seasons, athletics director Tim Bald announced on December 7. Rhodes, who also spent the 2000 to 2002 seasons as an assistant coach before being named head coach in 2003, compiled a 76-18-4 mark during his head coaching tenure.

St. Norbert won Midwest Conference championships under Rhodes in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, and qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament in four consecutive years from 2003 to 2006. The Green Knights advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 in 2004 and to the second round of the tournament in 2006. St. Norbert was 42-2-1 in Midwest Conference games under Rhodes.

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St. Norbert senior defender Amir St. Clair (right) has been named to the second team of the 2007 College Division Academic All-America men’s soccer team as sponsored by CoSIDA and ESPN The Magazine.

St. Clair picked up his first Academic All-America accolade after being named Academic All-District V in each of the past two years. He is the men’s soccer program’s fourth Academic All-America selection in the last five years, joining Adam Winters (first team, 2003) and Andrew Winters (first team, 2005 and 2006).

St. Clair owns a 3.88 grade point average majoring in religious studies. St. Clair was named first-team All-Midwest Conference this year, scoring four goals and one assist for nine points in 20 games. A Dean’s List student, St. Clair is a two-year captain on the men’s soccer team and was a second-team All-Midwest Conference honoree in 2006.

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Carroll followed its 2007 Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament title by landing a league-best seven student-athletes on the 2007 Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer All-Conference Team. St. Norbert, who won the 2007 MWC Championship before falling to the Pioneers in the conference tourney finals followed with six selections. The conference tournament’s No. 3 seed Grinnell finished one pick behind the Green Knights with five total honorees. Beloit earned the fourth and final MWC tourney berth this season via a tiebreaker with Lawrence and the two squads found themselves tied once again with four All-MWC players apiece. Lake Forest and Ripon each had three selections, while a pair of players from Knox, Illinois College and Monmouth rounded out the squads.

The winner of the conference’s Player and Coach of the Year also hailed from Carroll, with senior J.J. Guttman (right) becoming the first defender to ever win the award and head coach Rick Mobley (left) being honored for the third time in his career.

2007 All-Conference Teams/Award Winners

Carroll surrendered a goal to Wheaton, the 2006 NCAA Division III men’s soccer runner-up, in the 12th minute of its first round NCAA Division III Tournament match, as the Pioneers went on to fall to the Thunder 3-0 in Wheaton, Ill.

Wheaton took the first five shots of the game and held a 7-1 shot advantage early in the match. Carroll narrowed that gap midway through the game and closed the contest with nine shots to Wheaton’s 18.

Craig Carlson led Rick Mobley’s squad with four shots, while goalkeeper Stanislaw Miaskowski made four saves. Wheaton’s second and third goals came on headers in the 30th minute and 60th minutes, respectively. Carroll closes the year with a 14-6-1 record.

Carroll will travel to face Wheaton (IL) in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament. The match on Wednesday, November 7 will begin at 6 p.m. Wheaton, who finished as the national runner-up last season, won the CCIW Tournament to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament after finishing fourth in the league during the regular-season. The winner of the match will travel to Dubuque, Iowa to face Loras, who received a first round bye.

Carroll enters at 14-5-1 after finishing second in the MWC during the regular-season. The Pioneers lone league loss was a 1-0 setback against MWC champ St. Norbert, but Rick Mobley’s squad avenged the loss and earned the league’s automatic NCAA tourney qualifier with a 2-0 road win over the Green Knights in the conference tournament final. The win marked Carroll’s first-ever MWC tourney title and first NCAA tourney appearance since joining the conference in 1992.

The Pioneers and Thunder shared three common opponents this season. Both schools defeated the CCIW’s North Park, while UW-Oshkosh handed Carroll a 1-0 defeat in comparison to Wheaton’s 4-1 win over the Titans. Carroll earned a 1-1 tie against NCAA tourney qualifier and CCIW champ Carthage, a team that defeated Wheaton during the regular-season 1-0, but fell to the Thunder 2-1 in the CCIW tournament.

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Rick Mobley’s (right) Carroll squad ended St. Norbert’s tourney title streak Sunday (November 4), as the second-seeded Pioneers downed the Green Knights 2-0 on their home field in the 2007 Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament final.

The Pioneers victory stops St. Norbert’s five-season tourney title streak and gives Carroll its first league tournament championship in school history. Carroll receives the conference’s automatic berth to the 2007 NCAA Tournament and will find out its first round postseason opponent Monday morning.

Craig Carlson, who netted Carroll’s lone goal in a 1-0 semifinal winner over Grinnell on Saturday, scored the game-winning goal 75 seconds into the match. Andy Prentice, who assisted on Carlson’s goal, added the insurance tally in the 76 th minute.

The 2007 Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament title match will be a rematch from 2006, as top-seed St. Norbert and No. 2 Carroll both advanced to the finals with semifinals victories at St. Norbert on Saturday (November 3). The teams will meet for the MWC tourney title and an automatic berth in the 2007 NCAA Tournament at noon on Sunday, November 4.

Carroll downed Grinnell 1-0 in one semifinal match, as the Pioneers Craig Carlson found the back of the net on an unassisted goal less than three minutes before halftime. Carroll goalkeeper Stanislaw Miaskowski made seven saves in the contest.

St. Norbert’s Jesse Czech notched the Green Knights first goal of the game against Beloit in the 33rd minute and St. Norbert appeared to be heading into halftime with a 1-0 advantage. In the final minute of the first half, Michael Burmesch’s rainbow shot caught the top of the crossbar and fell in front of a rushing Eric Natwick, who scored on the empty net. Six different players scored for St. Norbert during the 6-0 win.

The five-time defending MWC tournament champion Green Knights, along with Carroll, Grinnell and Beloit, will battle for the national tournament berth awarded to the MWC’s postseason titlist. This year’s field is the same four squads that composed last year’s tournament.

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St. Norbert senior Amir St. Clair and Lawrence senior Joe Sluhoski were selected to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V men's soccer team.

St. Clair, who has anchored a Green Knight defense that posted five regular-season shutouts en route to the league title, was a first-team pick after posting a 3.88 grade point average in his Religious Studies major. St. Clair will now move on to the Academic All-American ballot.

Sluhoski, a Biology/Pre-Medicine major who owns a 3.42 grade point average, was a second-team selection after leading the Vikings in points (21), goals (8) and assists (5) this season.

Three teams entered the final day of the regular-season with conference title hopes, but ultimately it was St. Norbert who emerged to win its fifth conference crown in six years.

Dale Rhodes’ (right) Green Knight finished the conference season with a 9-0-0 mark with Sunday’s 1-0 win over Grinnell and will host the 2007 MWC Tournament on Saturday and Sunday, November 3-4. St. Norbert now owns seven league titles overall, including four under Rhodes.

Grinnell entered the match with a 7-1-0 MWC record and a Grinnell victory would have given the Pioneers a shot at the league title. Carroll, who also had a 7-1-0 record entering Sunday, improved to 8-1-0 on Sunday and had the opportunity to claim the championship in a tiebreaker scenario if Grinnell had defeated St. Norbert.

Grinnell and Carroll entered the day having already clinched conference tournament berths, while Beloit, Lawrence and Ripon all remained alive for the fourth and final spot. The idle Bucs earned the final tourney berth, as Ripon fell to Illinois College 4-3 at home and Lawrence lost the tiebreaker to Beloit despite winning on Sunday.

Carroll senior defender J.J. Guttman (right) followed his Midwest Conference Defensive Performer of the Week award by being named to the D3Kicks.com National Team of the Week. Guttman played a major role in helping Carroll shutout Lawrence during Saturday’s 2-0 victory that helped the Pioneers improve to 4-1-0 in MWC action this season. Lawrence was limited to six shots in the game overall, including three on goal. Carroll has earned three shutouts this season and has limited six opponents to one goal.

D3Kicks.com Team of the Week

Illinois College junior forward Jose Roig was named to the D3Kicks.com National Team of the Week following his three-goal performance in the Blueboys’ 4-1 victory over Benedictine on September 2. Roig’s hat trick was the first by an Illinois College player in over five years.

D3Kicks.com Team of the Week

The St. Norbert men’s soccer team enters the 2007 season in search of its fifth Midwest Conference Championship in six years and a sixth consecutive MWC Tournament crown. Those credentials are just a few of the reasons that the Green Knights have been named the favorite to win the league in the 2007 MWC Preseason Coaches Poll.

Dale Rhodes’ (right) St. Norbert squad grabbed seven of the nine of possible first-place votes in the poll, while Carroll and Grinnell tied for second, despite Carroll receiving a first-place vote. Fourth-place Lawrence received a first-place nod to edge defending champ Beloit, who is picked to finish fifth, while Lake Forest was slated to finish sixth and was the recipient of the final first-place vote. Monmouth and Illinois College followed in seventh and eighth, respectively, while Ripon and Knox rounded out the poll in order.

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Lake Forest College Athletic Director Jackie Slaats announced on December 22 that Derek Niepomnik (right) has accepted the position as the Foresters Head Men’s Soccer Coach. Niepomnik is just the seventh head coach in the program’s 46-year history and only the third since 1978.

Niepomnik is currently the College Assistance Program Coordinator and Under-23 College Developmental Program Director for the FC Barrington Soccer Club. He implemented the under-23 program and served as its head men’s coach and assistant women’s coach. He has also been the head coach for high school aged teams since 2005.

Prior to joining the staff at the FC Barrington Soccer Club, Niepomnik was the head men’s soccer coach at Benedictine University for three years, beginning in 2002. He earned Northern Illinois Iowa Coach of the Year honors in 2002. He was also an assistant men’s coach at Northern Illinois University in 2001 and at St. Bonaventure University in 2000. In addition, he was the assistant women’s coach at Northern Illinois University in 1996 and 1997 and at the University of Cincinnati the following year.

Niepomnik played four years at NCAA Division I Northern Illinois University and graduated from the school in 1996. He was then a three-year starter at defender and midfielder for the Rockford Raptors of the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL – D3 Pro).

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