Eric Gehrig and Willie Koss, from the Loyola men's soccer team, are Men's Soccer correspondents for the HLN Blog.
We have continued to have a rough spell in and out of the Horizon League. We last left you approaching our game against Milwaukee. After a hard fought Saturday night, where we again out-shot our opponent, we fell 2-1. Junior Andy Weis scored his first collegiate goal and played very well in securing a starting spot for the rest of the season. Leaving Milwaukee, we knew that we had to play well against DePaul and score some goals to build some confidence heading into our next Horizon League contest at home against Wright State.
We had a quick turnaround since our game against in-city rival DePaul was on Wednesday night. Although it was not a conference game, playing DePaul is an easy game to get pumped up for since they are only a 30-minute trip down the red line. After battling for 88 minutes and finding ourselves up 2-1, DePaul scored in the 89th minute, and the score remained 2-2 until the end of overtime. To be so close to a win, and lose it, left a sour taste in all our mouths.
We were determined to right the ship on Saturday night against Wright State. Despite out-shooting WSU 28-3, we were unable to find the back of the net and lost 1-0. An absolute terrible loss is the only way to describe it. Hats off to the Raiders for trusting their style of play and packing it in, waiting for the right break. It finally came, and they made the most of it.
Our next game was against another city rival, the Northwestern Wildcats. It was another quick turnaround considering our game with NU was on Tuesday night. Once again we found ourselves with great opportunities to score, but came up empty handed. Northwestern put one in the back of the net in the 82nd-minute, sending us home with another loss.
Tonight, we play UIC at home, who is undoubtedly our biggest rival. Not only are they a rival, but we are in a "win or go home" situation within the Horizon League. Remember, only the top six teams qualify for this year's Horizon League Men's Soccer Championship. Let's hope that we can release the curse that is upon us and score some goals tonight. We're still looking for our first win since September 20, when we beat Oral Roberts @ UMKC.
Stay classy brahs!
