Ramblermania.net

Loyola's #14/11 Men's Soccer Team got a 2-0 shutout road win at DePaul yesterday. The win boosts the Ramblers to 9-1-0. The NCAA Men's Soccer RPI came out on Monday, after Loyola had a 1-1 week with a loss at #8 Creighton and at Central Arkansas, and the Ramblers were still ranked in the top 10 at #8.

The DePaul win was great for the RPI, because it came against a Big East team (in the top 40% of the RPI despite their losing record) and on the road. Loyola's record is now 5-1 away from home (road plus neutral games), which is pretty impressive. The NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament has 48 teams, with 24 going to the conference auto bids. That leaves 24 at large teams, and being in the top 20 in the RPI will help a lot to earn an at large if a stray ball or rebound prevents an MVC tournament win.

Up next is a home re-match with conference rival Drake at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Loyola Soccer Park. The game will be on ESPN3. Loyola beat the Bulldogs 1-0 with a timely late goal in Des Moines on Sept. 17.

By the way, I highly recommend the ESPN app for Amazon Fire Stick to watch ESPN coverage on your TV. It has worked like a charm for me and the quality is excellent on a big screen.

I attended this match. It was pretty fun to watch. To my untrained eye, it looked like our goals came on two breakdowns by DePaul that let us bring the ball right up the middle.

A few things stood out. 1. Collier is huge! He's like 6'3. Looks like a giant out there, especially playing forward. 2. We've got a couple guys who our opponents must absolutely hate. Lasinski in particular is a pest out there. Was fun to see them get under DePaul's skin.

Glad you were able to go. I watched on video. I've been to that (tiny postage-stamp) field many times before, because it's so convenient in the shadow of the Fullerton El station. Wish Field claims to be 70 yards wide by 115 yards long, but I don't believe it-- seems much smaller than that, maybe 90 yards long total. I think they're fudging--- I'd like to measure it. The NCAA claims those measurements as the minimum dimensions.

Compare to Toyota Field, where the Chicago Fire plays. When factoring in the square yardage, DePaul's Wish Field is 950 square yards smaller than the field at Toyota Park. It makes it a unique home field advantage for DePaul to be able to train and play a game for a field that only uses 80% of a normal (optimum) sized field.

Glad we got the W.... now it's on to beat Drake again. So far, we're 2-0 against the top two teams from the preseason poll. The game at Evansville might be pivotal.

Also, I think it's time for LU to start working on getting the men's soccer, women's soccer, women's volleyball and softball tournaments in Chicago. The ONLY conference tournament championship we've hosted since joining the league was women's golf in 2016, and we're scheduled for men's golf this year. That's it. We do have excellent facilities (better than some other league schools) for volleyball, soccer, and softball. We hosted a national NCAA championship in men's volleyball, we can do it for the league title.

Interesting. I didn't realize the field was smaller than standard. Pretty neat how it is right (and i mean *right* next to the train). Room for about 7 rows of bleachers, and that's it.

The team hammered Drake 4-0 last night. I tried to watch, but I kept getting seasick. Our camera operator chases the ball around like a third grader.

Must be the same person doing camera for volleyball.