Wheaton, Ill. -- Upon the conclusion of the 2023 regular season, the CCIW All-Conference teams and award winners have been named for men's soccer, and four members of the Wheaton program have earned recognition after an impressive campaign to date.
Steve McCrath was named the CCIW Joe Bean Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to an 11-5-1 mark in the regular season and a second-place finish in the conference standings for the second-consecutive season.
Mason Escalante was voted the CCIW Goalkeeper of the Year, and Escalante is joined by teammates
Pryse Anderson and
Kyle Johnson on the All-Conference First Team after the trio's standout performances this fall.
McCrath is honored as the conference's Coach of the Year in just his second season at the helm of the program, and he becomes the first Wheaton men's soccer coach to earn the recognition since Mike Giuliano in 2014. Wheaton's regular season record of 11-5-1 is the team's best since 2015, and the team's 6-1-1 mark in CCIW competition was good for a second-place finish in the conference table, meaning that Wheaton has earned a first round bye in the conference tournament in each of McCrath's first two seasons with the program.
Escalante, a junior goalkeeper from Santa Cruz, California, is the inaugural winner of the CCIW Goalkeeper of the Year award and is Wheaton's first specialty award winner in men's soccer since Marshall Hollingsworth repeated as CCIW Student-Athlete of the Year in 2015. The 2023 First Team All-Conference recognition is the first All-Conference nod of Escalante's collegiate career. The third-year shot-stopper tallied the joint-highest number of shutouts this season in the CCIW with four and made the most saves of any keeper in the conference through the regular season with 72 stops to his name. Escalante led the CCIW in save percentage in conference matches with a .750 mark and boasted the second-best goals against average in conference action at 1.4 through eight games and 700 minutes of playing time. The junior was twice named the CCIW Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week this season for his performances in the Thunder net.
Anderson and Johnson also earn their first All-Conference recognitions and join Escalante on the First Team after combining for 24 goals and seven assists in the regular season. Anderson, a junior forward from Fort Worth, Texas, leads Wheaton with 14 goals this fall, the highest single-season total since 2015, and has added three assists for a total of 31 points. He was second in the conference for both goals and points in the regular season and put 23 of his 32 shots on target, making him one of the most accurate attackers in the league in 2023. Anderson scored the second-most goals in CCIW matches this year with six and had the highest points per game average in conference competition after earning 15 points in seven matches. He was named the CCIW Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week on October 3rd, the lone Thunder player to earn the recognition this season.
Johnson, a sophomore striker from Champaign, Illinois, joined Anderson as the only other Wheaton player to hit double-figures in scoring in the regular season, bagging ten goals and contributing four assists. He currently leads the Thunder in shots on target in 2023 with 24 to his credit. His four game-winning goals this season is the second-highest mark in the CCIW and his 24 total points are the fifth-most of any conference player so far this year. Johnson's brace in last Saturday's win over North Park was the third time this campaign that the second-year attacker notched multiple goals in a game and enabled Wheaton to clinch a top-two finish in the CCIW standings.
After an impressive regular season, the Thunder men's soccer team's schedule will continue on Wednesday night when they host the winner of North Park and Illinois Wesleyan for a CCIW Tournament semifinal at Joe Bean Stadium.
