Loyola, UIC To Compete In NCAA Men's Soccer Championship
Nov. 17, 2008
2008 NCAA Tournament Bracket in PDF Format 
Loyola University Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago will compete in the 2008 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship, the NCAA announced Monday evening. Loyola, which received the Horizon League's automatic bid, will travel to Northwestern Friday at 8 p.m. ET. UIC, an at-large selection, will host to Dayton, also Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
The Ramblers (11-6-3), who won the U.S. Army Horizon League Championship as the tournament's No. 5 seed, will see their season continue against a familiar foe. Northwestern (13-3-2) defeated Loyola, 1-0, on a late tally on Oct. 28. The Ramblers are 4-1-1 since that loss, and have won four straight matches. LU is making its second NCAA appearance in the last three seasons.
UIC (12-3-4), the regular season champion and host of the Horizon League tournament, enters NCAA Tournament play after dropping a 1-0 match to Loyola last Friday in the semifinals. The Flames, aiming to repeat last year's deep postseason run that saw them advance to the round of eight, are making their third straight NCAA appearance. Dayton (15-4-2) won the Atlantic 10 Championship Sunday with a 1-0 win over Massachusetts.
This is the sixth time the Horizon League has had multiple teams in the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. Loyola and UIC each earned bids in 2006. Butler and Milwaukee competed in 2001 and several teams earned berths from 1987-90.
A Horizon League team has won at least one match in the NCAA Tournament for the past six seasons. UIC has four NCAA wins and advanced on penalty kicks once in its school history.
