Game Notes
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Sept. 20, 2005

CHICAGO, Ill. -

Ramblers Battle Nationally Ranked Marquette, Illinois State This Week: Loyola University Chicago women's soccer continues its five-match, 10-day swing with two mid-week matches beginning with a clash against No. 15 Marquette at LU Soccer Park on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. After the MU match, the Ramblers will head to downstate Normal on Thursday (Sept. 22) for a 4 p.m. meeting at Illinois State.

Scouting The Ramblers: Loyola enters this week with a 2-3 mark on the season as it plays its first two midweek matches of the season. The Ramblers open the newly renovated Loyola Soccer Park in style with a night match against 17-ranked Marquette on Tuesday (Sept. 20) before battling in-state foe Illinois State in Normal, Ill., on Thursday (Sept. 22). Sophomore Amy Lomas recorded her second tally of the year as LU dropped its second straight match by a 5-1 decision at Ball State last Sunday. Leading the Ramblers in scoring is junior midfielder/forward Mary Dale with four goals and eight points, while fellow classmate Emily Peick has recorded 16 saves in goal for Loyola.

Scouting The Golden Eagles: Marquette, ranked 15th in this week's Soccer Buzz poll, enters the week undefeated on the year at 7-0-1. Last week, the Golden Eagles knocked off South Florida, 4-1 at home for its first ever victory as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. MU is 1-0-1 this season against Horizon League competition after beating UW-Green Bay, 1-0, on Sept. 4 and tying UW-Milwaukee, 1-1, on Sept. 7. Sophomore Christy Zwolski is Marquette's offensive leader with five goals and 11 points after posting two tallies against USF. Junior Meghan Connelly and senior Lindsay Michuda are tied for the team lead in assists with three helpers each. Sophomore goalkeeper Laura Boyer has tallied 30 saves and four shutouts on the year. Coaching the Golden Eagles in his 10th season is Markus Roeders, who has compiled a 133-53-15 record over nine years at MU.

Scouting The Redbirds: Illinois State comes into the week with a 3-2-2 record on the year. ISU posted a 0-1-1 mark last weekend after it suffered a 3-0 loss at Illinois on Sept. 16, but managed a 1-1 tie at Northern Illinois on Sept. 18. Freshman Melissa Routledge leads the Redbirds in goals (four), points (eight), shots (20) and shots on goal (13). Junior Meghan Boler and sophomore Bethany Russ co-hold the top spot as ISU's assist leaders with two each, while sophomore goalkeeper Erica Goethel has tallied 37 saves with a .804 save percentage in six matches this season. Head Coach Pete Kowall is currently in his ninth season with a 93-59-15 mark in over eight years at Illinois State. Kowall has led the Redbirds to seven consecutive seasons with at least 10 or more wins, including a 10-6-4 mark in 2004.

Coach Mateus on This Week's Matches: "When we looked at the schedule earlier this month, we knew that this would be a great test for the team. Marquette is going to be a great battle for us for the fact that they are having a great season being undefeated and nationally ranked. That program has always been tough over the years and that's the kind of challenges we're looking forward to. We've worked on some things defensively in training knowing that we need to play hard for 90 minutes to have a chance a pulling out a victory. The tough part after playing Marquette will be turning around two days later to play at Illinois State, who is going to be another great opponent for us. This week is a great way to help us prepare for our conference schedule, but we'd also like to see some things come into play and have some breaks come our way."

Last Week's Recap: Loyola suffered its second consecutive defeat on Sept. 18 after falling to host Ball State, 5-1, in Muncie, Ind. Sarah Leibel started the scoring for BSU in the 10th minute on break away from the LU defense with assists from Amy Holst and Lindsay Wilshire. The Cardinals recorded their second goal over five minutes later on Lindsay Martin's unassisted goal. Sophomore midfielder Amy Lomas put the Ramblers on the scoring column with her second goal of the season coming unassisted in the 26th minute as Ball State went into the halftime break with a 2-1 lead.

The Cardinals struck again in the 77th minute on a score by Holst with the assist coming from Angie Heyer, increasing their lead to 3-1. Laura Bandy tallied BSU's next goal in the 82nd minute off a helper from Martin and Katelyn Alexander provided the final goal in the 87th minute on a Sarah Schumacker assist. Ball Sate outshot Loyola by a 17-15 margin, but the Ramblers held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks. Junior Emily Peick and sophomore Lauren Sommer finished with two and three saves, respectively, in goal for the Ramblers.

Looking Ahead: The Ramblers head to Wisconsin to open Horizon League play on Sept. 26 at UW-Green Bay, then conclude the month of September with a non-conference matchup at IPFW on Sept. 30.