Oct. 30, 2005

Box Score

CHICAGO - Sophomore Tony DeLuca headed home a free kick in the 71st minute to give Loyola a 2-1 win over Cleveland State this afternoon in its regular season finale at Loyola Soccer Park. With the win, the Ramblers improve to 7-8-2 (4-3 Horizon), however, due to UIC's 4-1 win over Wright State this afternoon, Loyola will enter the Horizon League tournament as the No. 5 seed.

After a pre-game ceremony to honor its six seniors, Loyola came out flat. Cleveland State had two chances to open the scoring in the opening 90 seconds, the second needing a Lee Zarzecki clearance off the line to keep the match scoreless. However, the Vikings finally broke through in the 12th minute, as poor communication on the Loyola back line led to a foul in the box and Mark Zambra stepped up to convert the penalty to give CSU a 1-0 lead. The goal seemed to awaken the home team and the match was back on equal terms less than two minutes later. A Steven Graner throw-in deep in the Cleveland State end found Javier Lopez in the box and he was able to find some room and blast one past the keeper to level the match.

Neither team was able to carve out any clear-cut chances in the opening minutes of the second half, with Loyola struggling to put together the final pass and Cleveland State trying its luck with long-range shots. The Ramblers got the breakthrough they needed in the 71st minute when Keum Sung Kim was fouled after splitting defenders on the left wing. Dino Melitas sent the resulting free kick into the box where DeLuca rose above his mark to power a header into the net to give LU the lead. Solid defending the last 20 minutes made the goal stand up and give Loyola some momentum heading into the conference tournament.

As the fifth-seed, the Ramblers earn a return trip to Dayton, Ohio where they will face fourth-seeded Wright State in a quarterfinal match. Check www.loyolaramblers.com for updated tournament information as it becomes available.