DePaul University Athletics
Blue Demons Take On Northern Illinois
9/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S SOCCER
CHICAGO – The DePaul men’s soccer team will their first non-tournament match of the season when they take the short drive west to DeKalb, Ill. for a Sunday afternoon match with the Huskies. The Blue Demons stand at 1-2-1 after playing a pair of top 15 programs in the NIKE Portland Invitational and the Panther Invitational in Milwaukee.
Nothing But the Best
A quick look at the 2002 schedule shows that the Blue Demons have their work cut out for them. Consider this, five opponents (No. 7 Washington, No. 10 UAB, No. 11 Saint Louis, No. 15 Portland, No. 17 UW-Milwaukee) 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. DePaul doesn't play a home match until Oct. 5 against Memphis, a span of nine consecutive games.
Looking at the Blue Demons
DePaul returns 10 players and welcomes 12 newcomers to the 2002 roster... of those 10 returners, two are seniors, three are juniors and there are five sophomores... offensively, three players have found the net… Luke Rojo leads the squad with a pair of goals while Edwin Arreola and Adam Hermsen have scored once… Rojo and Jonathan Foley were named to the All-Tournament team at last weekend’s Coca-Cola Panther Invitational… Rojo earned Conference USA All-Freshman team honors last season... Foley and Bob Kruse will serve as team captains in 2002... after opening the season with nine straight road matches, the Blue Demons play seven of the remaining 10 regular-season matches at Wish Field... head coach Craig Blazer is in his first season without the "Interim" tag... he was named interim coach a day before the first exhibition game last season after Tom Secco resigned... following this weekend's action, the Blue Demons open Conference USA play at East Carolina and Charlotte next weekend.
Looking at the Northern Illinois
The Huskies are coming off their first win of the season… they knocked off UW-Green Bay, 2-1, on Wednesday… overall, Northern Illinois is 1-4-0… they have dropped matches to New Mexico (2-1), UNLV (4-1), Loyola-Chicago (1-0, OT) and Eastern Illinois (3-1)… the series: DePaul is looking for their first win against Northern Illinois… the Huskies lead the all-time series, 13-0-2… NIU won last year’s meeting, 2-1, in DeKalb.
Home-Opening Weekend Plans Announced
DePaul men's soccer Craig Blazer announced plans for activities surrounding DePaul's home-opener against Memphis on Oct. 5. There will be activities for Alumni and Parents during the day.
The Alumni game is set to start at 10:30 a.m. Alumni interested in playing need to RSVP to Blazer and register on Oct. 5 at 10 a.m.
Following the game there will be a lunch for the alumni and parents at noon. All are invited to stay for the DePaul match against Memphis at 2 p.m.
For more information and to RSVP, contact head coach Craig Blazer at (773) 325-7231. All parents and alumni need to RSVP with Blazer prior to Oct. 5.
Recapping the Coca-Cola Panther Invitational
DePaul 3, UW-Green Bay 1 – The DePaul men's soccer team notched their first win of the season last Sunday as they defeated UW-Green Bay, 3-1. Luke Rojo scored a pair of goals while Adam Hermsen added another. Rojo and Jonathan Foley were named to the Coca-Cola Panther Invitational All-Tournament team. Rojo’s first goal came in the 12th minute off a pass from Ed Kiefer. Rojo took Kiefer’s pass and knocked it in from 12 yards past the Phoenix goalkeeper. The scored remained a 1-0 until UW-Green Bay’s David Chin scored on a header at 29:12. The score was stuck at 1-1 until Rojo found the net for a second time. His second goal came via a long cross from Bob Kruse that Rojo headed past the keeper at 70:22. Just over 10 minutes later, Adam Hermsen sealed the win for the Blue Demons as he took advantage of a Phoenix turnover and scored from eight yards away in the 82nd minute. Brian Allen earned the win in goal as he made seven saves while facing 17 shots. DePaul managed 11 shots compared to UWGB’s 17.
UW-Milwaukee 3, DePaul 1 – Host UW-Milwaukee erased a 1-0 deficit with three goals to knock off the DePaul Blue Demons, 3-1, in the Coca-Cola Panther Invitational last Saturday. In the second minute of the match, UW-Milwaukee’s Evan Richardson misplayed a pass back to Panther goalkeeper Brad Swenby for the own goal and gave the Blue Demons the early advantage. Richardson redeemed himself as he tied the match at 18:41 off of his own rebound from five yards away. Just before the first half ended, at 42:30, UWM’s Neil Dombrowski beat DePaul keeper Michael Timlin for the eventual game-winner. Antou Jallow scored the match’s final goal in the 68th minute. For the match, the Panthers outshot the Blue Demons, 17-3, while Timlin made seven saves. UW-Milwaukee also took nine corner kicks to DePaul’s zero.
