DePaul University Athletics
Blue Demons Host Ramblers
10/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S SOCCER
CHICAGO - Looking to start another winning streak, the DePaul men's soccer team hosts neighborhood foe Loyola-Chicago on Wednesday at Wish Field. The Blue Demons snapped a three-match win streak with a 3-2 loss at UAB on Saturday and stand at 5-6-2 overall. The Ramblers enter the match at 3-11-0.
Looking at the Blue Demons
Five wins is the most since the 1999 squad won seven times... offensively, six players have found the net... Luke Rojo leads the squad with five goals while Edwin Arreola has four scores... Jonathan Foley, Adam Hermsen and Anthony Minniti have scored twice... Tim Blake has a goal and two assists... three of Rojo's five goals have been game-winners... Bob Kruse leads the club with three assists while Blake, Foley and Hermsen have a pair... the Blue Demons have been outscored, 25-17, through 13 matches... DePaul is 1-0-1 in overtime matches, 4-2-0 in one-goal games and 3-0-0 in home matches... Rojo and Foley were named to the All-Tournament team at the Coca-Cola Panther Invitational... Rojo earned Conference USA All-Freshman team honors last season... Foley and Kruse are team captains in 2002... after opening the season with nine straight road matches, the Blue Demons play seven of the final 10 regular-season matches at Wish Field... head coach Craig Blazer is in his first season without the "interim" tag.
Loyola Scouting Report
The Ramblers enter Wednesday's match at 3-11-0... since opening the season, 3-0, they have lost the last 11 matches... in Horizon League action, they are 0-6-0... Loyola has lost two of the last three matches by one goal... six players have scored at least once... Joe Nierzwicki leads the club with 13 points on five goals and three assists... Ray O'Connell is in his 25th season as head coach with the Ramblers... the series: Loyola leads the all-time series, 13-7-1... a year ago, DePaul won, 2-0, in Rogers Park... the Blue Demons have won five of the last six meetings and six of the last eight against the Ramblers.
Streaking
DePaul's modest three-game win streak was the longest since winning three straight in 1999... the last time the Blue Demons won four consecutive matches was a streak during the 1995 season... the program's best winning streak occurred in 1994 when DePaul won five consecutive matches.
Last Time Out - UAB 3, DePaul 2
Three goals by UAB in the final 13 minutes doomed the Blue Demons in a 3-2 loss on Saturday night. The loss dropped snapped a three-match winning streak by DePaul and dropped their record to 5-6-2 overall and 2-3-0 in Conference USA play.
Both DePaul goals came via the penalty kick. Luke Rojo scored the only goal of the first half at 23:15. UAB goalkeeper Clint Baumstark was whistled for a foul in the penalty box. Rojo then converted the kick into the lower right corner of the net for the early 1-0 lead. For Rojo, it was his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
The Blue Demons received their second penalty kick of the contest in the 50th minute after a UAB defender took down a player in the box. Edwin Arreola converted the kick to give DePaul a two-goal lead at 49:07. The penalty kick was Arreola's fourth goal of the year.
The score remained 2-0 until the 78th minute when UAB's Flavio Monteiro scored on a penalty kick. Just seven minutes later, at the 84:16 mark, Jermie Frankson found the left side of the net from 25 yards to tie the match at 2-2. With 1:01 left, Monteiro finished the UAB comeback with his second goal of the game for the 3-2 final.
DePaul keeper Michael Timlin made a career-high 11 saves as UAB outshot the Blue Demons, 26-8.
Nothing But the Best
A quick look at the 2002 schedule reveals five opponents (No. 7 Washington, No. 10 UAB, No. 11 Saint Louis, No. 15 Portland, No. 17 UW-Milwaukee) that were ranked in the preseason top 25 by Soccer America. Of those five, the Blue Demons opened their season at three of those ranked squads.
Up Next
This weekend, the Blue Demons return to Conference USA play when they host the TCU Horned Frogs. Kickoff at Wish Field is scheduled for 2 p.m.