October 17, 2012
LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Loyola gains from loss

CHICAGO – Loyola was almost completely dominated by Northwestern, who took a 2-0 win at the Loyola Soccer Complex Wednesday night. Loyola went the entire match without a shot, managing only two in the game

Loyola senior goalkeeper Peter McKeown prevented the game from becoming a rout, making five saves, including a diving save on a penalty kick in the fourth minute.

"Tonight's game was a great learning experience," said Loyola junior Kyle Spoo. "Northwestern is a good team. We just couldn't pull it together tonight and unfortunately we lost this one. Now all we can do is learn from our mistakes, emphasize what we did right and continue to get better. It's time to go back to training and focus on our next match."

The Wildcats continued to control possession during the first half, taking an 11-0 shot advantage over the Ramblers. Northwestern's Joey Calistri put the Wildcats on the board in the 15th minute, sending a hard shot just inside of the right post from eight yards out.

The Wildcats earned their second goal of the night in the 61st minute. Chris Ritter powered a low shot between the posts from 20 yards out, extending Northwestern's lead, 2-0.

The Ramblers posted back-to-back shots in the 86th minute looking for a final opportunity to get themselves on the board. Junior James Howe took a shot from inside the 18, just as a Northwestern defender came in for the block. Freshman Dane Bergstrom recovered the ball placing a header high of the crossbar to challenge Northwestern for the last time. Loyola ended the game trailing the Wildcats, 2-0.

"Northwestern is the best team we've played this season," said Loyola head coach Brendan Eitz. "We made some adjustments in the second half that helped us, but we just have to be more consistent with our execution. We're looking forward to playing Cleveland State next week and we're ready to take some things we learned from tonight's game to get better."

Loyola takes a week off before returning to conference play on Wednesday, Oct. 24, when the Ramblers host Cleveland State at 7:30 p.m.