(Chicago, IL) – The small confines of Loyola Soccer Park could not contain the overflow crowd, Loyola’s enthusiasm or their voracious fans. Loyola beat #5 Santa Clara 2-1 in a game that Loyola deserved to win. They were the better team. Santa Clara (SC) is taller, more athletic and more skillful than Loyola. Post match, I asked Loyola’s coach Brendan Eitz to describe his team in one word. He replied, “battlers”. For me, the biggest difference between the two teams was desire. Loyola won the second balls, fought to get forward and for a team that was an average of 6 inches smaller was winning their fair share of headers.
Eitz stated, “we knew SC was tall, but we concentrated on what we do well.” While he was thrilled with the win over a tough opponent, he was disappointed not getting the shut-out. Loyola had 14 shut-outs last year and this was a game that a shut-out result was possible.
Loyola wanted this game more than SC. Getting an early goal only spurred their confidence and increased their aggressiveness. They remind me of team that I saw last year at this time, Bradley which went to the final 8. They both had a few key star players, a go-to goal scorer and most important desire. If Loyola stays healthy and can get out of their tournament, they may surprise some bigger schools in the NCAA tournament.
SC is not a bad team, but they are going to need to provide more effort to have a successful season. It seems that they are missing a driver – losing Peter Lowry to graduation is going to take some time to replace. I think they have the player who can replace him, but he’s a freshman.
Starting Line-ups:
Loyola: Plays a 4-1-3-1-1 with a DM, flat 3 MF
GK: Brian Byrne
D: Will Martin, Reed Cataldo, Jordan Lewis, Kevin Harrigan
DM: Eric Gerig
M: Alex Jones, Willie Koss, Keum Sung Kim
W/drawn F: Michael Ferguson
F: Mark Halma
Santa Clara: 4-4-2
GK: Kevin Klasila
D: Chris Sauter, Jalil Anibaba, Ross Smith, Brian Bruggner
M: Jeff Cosgriff, Stephen McCarthy, Brandon Zimmerman, Brian Martin
F: Aaron Clubb, Jide Ogunbiyi
Loyola Observations:
One of the reasons that I came to this game is to see All-American candidate junior Michael Ferguson play against a top notch team. My assessment is incomplete. While he certainly has skill, I’m not sold that he’s a can’t miss MLS prospect. He re-acts. He needs to anticipate better and make those runs. On the first goal, he one-timed a low corner kick from Keum Sung Kim. The goal was created by Jordan Lewis picking Ferguson’s marker – Jide Ogunbiyi. Ogunbiyi didn’t fight through the pick and no one from SC supported him either. Eitz said this was not a set piece and that Lewis improvised this – kudos to the freshman defender.
Senior left midfielder Keum Sung Kim had both assists. He is very good on the ball and is critical in giving Loyola time to transition into their attack. Kim is confident with defenders draping on him and still delivers accurate crosses. On the second goal, Kim held the ball stopping and starting to finally drive the ball to the end line before sending a cross to the far post that junior right midfielder Alex Jones headed into the upper 90 in the 36th minute. 3 minutes before Jones hit a header just wide from the same spot off a free kick. Why didn’t someone on SC take responsibility to address this problem? I don’t blame freshman Brandon Bruggner because he’s a freshman, but sophomore Jalil Anibaba or junior Ross Smith should have solved the problem.
Sophomore “Wee” Willie Koss is tiny. But like a chihuahua, he doesn’t seem to realize it. He is tenacious on the ball and does not hesitate to attack with speed. He takes the free kicks providing good service. How did SC let Koss win anything in the air?
Lewis in addition to his pick uses his long throw as a weapon in the SC box.
Senior goal keeper Brian Byrne is undersized but he wasn’t challenged too often in dangerous situations. With a 1 goal lead and minutes left in the game, Byrne inadvisably came out to get a long searching ball that left his goal unguarded. Worse, he didn’t get the ball and freshman Jordan Lewis saved him by clearing the ball. Seems like Lewis was doing a job far beyond a freshman.
Junior DM Eric Gehrig plays the destroyer. While he understands the game, clock management and “gamesmanship”, his skills are average at best and he doesn’t have the necessary closing speed for the next level. He should enjoy his collegiate experience.
At the end of the first half with brimming confidence, sophomore defender Will Martin did a pasa de vaca on SC freshman defender Brian Bruggner getting into the box until another defender closed down the opportunity.
Santa Clara Observations:
SC coach Cameron Rast was disappointed with the result but he was happy with his team’s effort in the second half. I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the passing overall. It needs to be much sharper.
Starting goal keeper sophomore Kevin Klasila took a knock to the requiring stitches in the 20th minute and did not return but could have if needed, according to Rast.
Senior forward Jide Ogunbiyi has boatloads of skill. He turns quickly, a huge target and an accomplished passer. I’m disappointed with his defensive effort that allowed the first goal. He needs to do more than take up space.
Sophomore defender Jalil Anibaba is good in the air and a superlative tackler. He needs to accept the responsibility and be the leader in the back.
With the game still 2-0, sophomore Kellen Wantulok took a 35 yard free kick passing it out of bounds instead of pumping the ball into the box. This is just one example of SC wasting opportunities.
Junior midfielder Jeff Cosgriff leads the attack. He is tall (6′4″). His passing is generally above average, but he had a howler in the second half that was just poor form. He’ll tackle with authority, but not stronger than many others. He took a lot of shots, but many were blocked close to him. I think this is because his shot takes a long time for him to wind up and get the ball off his foot.
SC got on the board on a disputed goal that began with a corner kick from Bruggner. Cosgriff headed it in with 11 minutes to play. According to the UIC coaching contingent that were relegated to the end-line (remember it was an SRO crowd), the ball never crossed the line.
Rast scouted his next opponent, UIC – just as John Trask (UIC coach) was at the Loyola game scouting. Rast commented that UIC is a good team and took the game to UMKC without getting the victory. It’s going to be a tough game. He’s happy to return to grass, because SC had a few bounces not go their way against Loyola.
Trask is looking for SC to bounce back and give UIC a very good game. He added that Loyola is a very good team and is representative of the quality in the Horizon league. For those in the Chicago area, UIC is hosting SC at 7pm CT at Flames Field.
