Final Stats

CHICAGO - The Loyola University Chicago women's soccer team defeated Western Illinois, 4-0, this evening at Loyola Soccer Park in the 2014 home opener. Freshman Avalon Senn-Raemont scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the first half before the Ramblers piled on three more following halftime.

"We really talked to the girls about building on last weekend's performance," Loyola head women's soccer coach Barry Bimbi commented. "If we want to get to where we want to be at the end of the year, we have to get better every week and tonight was a perfect example of that. We kind of chopped through the first half a little bit but made some adjustments at halftime and the girls came out flying in the second half."

Neither team was able to put together a serious chance in the game's opening quarter of an hour, despite both having a handful of corner kicks. Senn-Raemont broke the scoreless deadlock in the 20th minute when she rifled a shot from close range past Victoria Kappel, the Western Illinois goalkeeper. Sophomore Hailey Merrill was credited with the assist on the goal. Senn-Raemont's strike, her team-best third of the season, looked to spark the Rambler attack as Alison Shimer went close with a shot from outside the 18-yard box in the 23rd minute, barely missing the upper corner at the far post.

Senior netminder Monica Gonyo would not be called into action until the 37th minute when she denied a Tiara Herron blast from 25 yards out. Herron was right back in the mix under two minutes later when she went on a great run, feeding a ball to Tyra Markey, only to watch as she pulled her attempt wide of goal to ensure that the Ramblers would take their lead into the halftime break.

Loyola's backline continued to perform at a high level in the second half, holding the Leathernecks without a shot in the second stanza until the 63rd minute when Gonyo wrapped up Sarah Wright's attempt. The Ramblers doubled their advantage shortly after when freshman Jillaine DeYoung took a through ball from junior Jessica Bean and slid it by Kappel in the 64th minute for her first collegiate goal.

Merrill found herself back in the mix in the 73rd minute when she went on a long run down the right hand side of the field, crossing a ball into the box that senior Sammy Gage, last season's leading goal scorer, turned right past Kappel to make it 3-0 for Loyola. The last of the Ramblers' freshman trio to find her way on to the score sheet tonight was Katie Grall. The Waukesha, Wis. product took a ball from junior Stephanie Heys and unleashed a shot that Kappel partially deflected as it made its way into the net for the fourth and final Loyola goal of the evening. Like her freshman counterpart DeYoung, it was also Grall's first goal of her collegiate career.

After a tight first half in which the Ramblers only held a 3-2 advantage in shots, the Maroon & Gold outshot the Leathernecks, 11-1, in the final 45 minutes. The four-goal output is the highest for Loyola since a 4-0 win over Northern Iowa on Sept. 2, 2011 and also sees Gonyo record her first clean sheet of the season.

Loyola returns to action in Rogers Park when it hosts the Pac-12's Arizona State Sun Devils on Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. from Loyola Soccer Park.