Oct. 20, 2011
Box Score
CHICAGO - Despite finishing ahead of the competition in shots and corner kicks, the Loyola women's soccer team fell to No. 10 Milwaukee tonight, 3-0. With the loss, the Ramblers fell to 4-10-3 overall and 0-4-2 in conference play, while the Panthers improved to 15-1-0 overall and stay perfect in conference, 7-0.
Milwaukee wasted no time, controlling possession to score the first two goals early on in the match. In the sixth minute, senior Sarah Hagen played the ball out wide to Kelsey Holbert who launched a shot to the far post, beating Loyola's keeper. Less than two minutes later, the Ramblers were hit with a yellow card in the box to hand over a penalty kick and the Panthers second goal of the night off the foot of Hagen.
Keara Thompson made it 3-0 when she scored her fourth goal of the season, sneaking the ball just inside the right post at the 44:03 minute mark.
After intermission, Loyola straightened out its defense to shut down the Panthers for the rest of the contest and stepped up its offense to take control of the match. After only collecting three shots in the first half, the Maroon and Gold fought hard and strung together nine attempts in the second to take the 12-8 advantage. One of the Ramblers' best opportunity came in the 61st minute when Allison Rydberg used some fancy footwork to dribble around three defenders and set up an attempt by Sammy Gage.
"At halftime we talked about competing. In the first half I think we just played but in the second I think we competed. The second half was a positive 45 minutes for us," said head coach Barry Bimbi. "We need to work on a better offensive third and it'll come together. In the end, we outshot the 10th ranked team in the country so that is definitely a positive we'll take away from tonight."
Gage led the Ramblers with three shots in the match while Ana Claudia Michelini and Valerie Gonyo each finished with two. Freshman Monica Gonyo started in goal to collect the loss before Katie Groesch came in for relief in the second. Groesch finished with two saves on the night. As a team, Loyola worked for a 2-0 edge in corner kicks and two offsides traps.
The Ramblers will be back in action on Sunday, Oct. 23 for a conference duel against Youngstown State. The match, which will also serve as Senior Day for the graduating class, is set for 1:00 p.m. CST.
