The Ramblers got a goal from a header in the 86th minute to beat Drake 1-0 last night in Des Moines. It was Loyola's sixth win of the season against no ties or losses, fifth shutout in a row, and Loyola's first win in six tries at Drake-- a team that was picked to finish 2nd in the MVC preseason poll.

The lone goal marked the third game in a row with a goal by redshirt sophomore Grant Stoneman, who is shaping up to be the best player in the MVC if his first six games are any indication. Stoneman is a St. Charles native and a transfer from Wisconsin who plays Midfielder/Defender, and has won two consecutive MVC Defensive Player of the Week awards. With Stoneman playing a significant role in the back, Loyola has kept opponents out of the net for 464 consecutive minutes going back to regulation time in the first game of the season. The Ramblers' rock-solid back line (Stoneman, Marius Kullman, Matthieu Braem, and Kyle Thompson playing nearly every minute of each game) has allowed only 11 shots on goal in six games, and goalkeeper Andrew Chekadanov has saved nine of those 11 shots, accounting for both the lowest number of SOG and the best save percentage in the league.

SIUE, the preseason favorite and defending champion, is up next for the Ramblers on Sat., Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at Loyola Soccer Park. The Cougars have struggled against a tough schedule, while compiling a 1-3-2 record. SIUE ranks last in the league in shots and goals, with the Cougars making only three tallies on the season-- two of them coming on penalty kicks.

Loyola figures to move up a spot or two in the rankings this week, as Boston College and UCSB both lost, San Diego State, Clemson and Virginia had draws.

What an outstanding start to the season! I might try to attend the next game.

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John,

Thank you for the excellent update! Really appreciate all of the research you do. It is great to see a Loyola team other than men's volleyball be nationally ranked. I was also glad to see that the women finally won today.

This was a particularly well-written story, even by JCT's high standards.

I'm looking into the home matches but three of them have the same start time as women's vball. Darn. Looks like they have a couple of near home road matches at NU and DePaul.

There is a Loyola women's and men's doubleheader on October 8th that I might check out.

Ramblers move up to #11 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com poll.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college- ... nkings/men

I'm going to guess 14 or 15 in tomorrow's NSCAA poll.

Men's soccer ranked at #17 in the coaches poll.

I also wanted to shout out topdrawersoccer they work that Will Parchman, Travis Clark, JR Eskilson and others do on youth and college soccer is amazing. They are basically the only ones consistently putting out information on it and they do it at a high level.