It's come down to this for Loyola fall sports-- a busy, crucial, make-or-break weekend.

Women's Soccer - The women's soccer team has had a slew of disappointing losses, many in overtime and on the road. An Oct. 19 overtime loss at UNI and an Oct. 25 loss in overtime at Missouri State were tough blows after the Ramblers came OhSoClose to a result against undefeated league leader ISUr at home on the opening weekend of the season. As a result, they find themselves tied for fifth place going into the final game of the regular season, on the precipice of not qualifying for the MVC tournament. The Ramblers face 2nd place Evansville on Thursday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m. at Loyola Soccer Park, where a only a win would guarantee a spot in the conference tournament. Anything less than a win would require some scoreboard-watching for the Missouri State-UNI and Drake-Indiana State games going on the same evening.

Men's Soccer - The men's soccer team-- currently in 4th place in the MVC-- has a tuneup match at Loyola Soccer Park against #20 Northwestern on Wednesday, October 29 before heading down to Evansville for a pivotal game against the 3rd place Purple Aces. The road-weary Ramblers stumbled out of the gate and nearly coughed up the first league win for Central Arkansas last weekend, but escaped an embarrassing loss thanks to a 90th minute penalty kick conversion. A win in Saturday night's game at Evansville gives the Ramblers an outside chance to finish in the top three (and possibly even win a first round tournament bye) if they can follow it up with a win over league-leader SIUE at home on the final night of the regular season next Saturday. Unlike the MVC women's soccer conference tournament, all games in the MVC tournament take place at host Bradley (currently 6th), so the best way to avoid a first round matchup with the host school is to get that first-round bye with a second place finish.

Women's Volleyball - The first half of the MVC volleyball season has been surprising. No one would have predicted Illinois State to be such a juggernaut (11-0 in conference), and the Ramblers' poor performance thus far has been frustrating for Loyola fans. The pivotal game so far for the Ramblers was a devastating home loss to Missouri State on September 26, when the Bears scored seven of the final eight points in a 16-14 fifth set to capture the match 3-2. Since that epic collapse, Loyola has played without much fight-- dropping six of eight matches and getting swept in five of the six losses. Now mired in a tie for 7th place in the conference, a season that should have been much brighter is at a crucial turning point as the Ramblers face 7th place Evansville Friday night, October 31 and 6th place Southern Illinois on Saturday night, November 1 at Gentile Arena. A pair of home wins over the weekend could vault the Ramblers back into sole possession of 6th place in the MVC before the schedule turns less favorable. Only the top 6 teams qualify for the conference tournament, so anything less than two wins this weekend could prove fatal to tournament participation.

Cross Country - The 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship will be held this Saturday, November 1, at the SIU Cross Country Course in Carbondale, Ill. Loyola's men's and women's teams were both picked fifth in the MVC pre-championship poll. Loyola will be led by senior Sam Penzenstadler on the men's side and junior Sydney Stuenkel on the women's. The men finished 2nd last year, and the women finished 4th. In order to improve on last season's finishes, the respective teams are going to have to show a lot more grit than they've done lately-- the performance last weekend at the Illini Open was very disappointing, with the women finishing fifth and none of the three men's participants placing better than 24th overall.