GAME INFORMATION
Final Score: No. 17/15 Loyola 2, UIC 0
Records: Loyola (14-3-1); UIC (9-8-3)
Location: Loyola Soccer Park -- Chicago, Ill.
Goalkeepers of Record: W: Andrew Chekadanov (14-3-1); L: Andrew Putna (9-6-3)
Stats: Box Score | Season Stats
Photo Gallery

In Short...
Goals in the second half from sophomore Alec Lasinski and senior Kevin Engesser helped see the No. 17/15 Loyola University Chicago men's soccer team past UIC this evening, 2-0, in a First Round game in the 2016 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament at Loyola Soccer Park. With the win, Loyola's first in the NCAA Tournament in program history, the Ramblers move to 14-3-1 overall, while the Flames end their season at 9-8-3.

Coach Jones' Thoughts...
"It was a battle tonight. You have to give a lot of credit to UIC. They came out hard. We played them in the preseason and won, 3-1, but I've been telling our guys ever since the draw came out that it's a different team. We fought our way through halftime and made a couple of slight changes here and there with what we were going to do. Ultimately, it came down to us making two big plays to score goals and our goalkeeper made some great saves."

How It Happened
Both sides struggled to find any rhythm in the opening minutes. Redshirt sophomore Grant Stoneman headed a corner kick by sophomore Fabian Lifka wide of the far post in the 10th minute to notch the first attempt of the night for Loyola. The Rambler defense stepped up shortly after, blocking away a pair of shots from Oscar Gonzalez to keep things knotted up at 0-0.

Lifka came close to putting the Maroon & Gold on top just after the half-hour mark when he had the ball at his feet inside the 18-yard box, only to see his attempt deflected out of play. Stoneman forced the first stop of the night out of Andrew Putna, the UIC goalkeeper, in the 39th minute when his shot was parried away at the near post. Neither team would get off an attempt for the remainder of the half as the two city rivals headed to halftime scoreless.

Loyola looked to take the game right at the Flames to begin the second half. Junior Kyle Thomson put his attempt wide of goal just over a minute in. The Ramblers broke the deadlock in the early stages of the 60th minute. Junior Brody Kraussel raced down the right side before sending a cross into the box that connected with a leaping Lasinski. The Ann Arbor, Mich. product headed across the face of goal and in off the far post to give Loyola a 1-0 lead.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Andrew Chekadanov came up with a trio of vital stops down the stretch to protect the Ramblers' one-goal edge. None were bigger than his diving save on Oscar Gonzalez's blast in the 87th minute. Engesser put away any hopes of a UIC comeback seconds later when he chased down a bouncing ball and fired past Putna in a one-on-one situation to seal a 2-0 win for Loyola.

Looking At The Numbers
- The Ramblers picked up their 14th win of the season tonight, breaking the program record for victories in a single season that was set by the 1984 Loyola squad.
- Tonight's victory was played in front of a Loyola Soccer Park record crowd of 1,023 fans.
- Lasinski's goal in the 60th minute was his team-best seventh of the season, while Kraussel picked up his team-high 10th assist on the tally.
- Engesser has now scored in the three straight games after finding the back of the net this evening.
- Chekadanov was brilliant between the pipes as he came up with three saves. By virtue of picking up his 12th shutout, the St. Louis, Mo. product has now tied Loyola's single-season record in the category that was set by former Rambler Brian Byrne during the 2008 season.

Up Next
Loyola now moves on to the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. The Ramblers will take on No. 13 seed Notre Dame on Sunday evening at 5 p.m. (CT) in South Bend, Ind.