DePaul University Athletics
Blue Demons Travel to Drake
9/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S SOCCER
CHICAGO – The men’s soccer end their season-opening nine-match road trip with a Sunday afternoon game at Drake. The Blue Demons enter the match at 2-4-2 overall while the Bulldogs are 3-4. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. in Des Moines, Iowa.
Looking at the Blue Demons
DePaul is winless in their last three matches with a pair of defeats and a tie… DePaul's season-opening nine-match road trip ends on Sunday at Drake... offensively, five players have found the net... Luke Rojo leads the squad with three goals while Edwin Arreola has a pair and Jonathan Foley, Adam Hermsen and Anthony Minniti have scored once... two of Rojo's three goals have been game-winners... the Blue Demons have been outscored, 17-9, through eight matches... DePaul is 1-0-1 in overtime matches and 1-1 in one-goal games... Rojo and Jonathan 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 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.
Looking at the Bulldogs
Drake enters Sunday's match at 3-4-0 overall... the Bulldogs have posted victories over Drury (3-0), San Diego State (1-0) and Western Illinois (3-1)… they have lost to Mo.-Kansas City (1-0, OT), Oral Roberts (1-0), Dayton (2-0) and San Diego (6-0).
Last Time Out – DePaul 2, Illinois-Chicago 2 (OT)
The Blue Demons came back from a two-goal deficit, but neither team could score a third goal as they played Illinois-Chicago to a 2-2 tie on Wednesday afternoon at Flames Field. With the draw, DePaul’s record went to 2-4-2. The match was back-and-forth until a flurry of Flames goals in the first half. The first score of the match came at 34:15 when Patrick Grange beat DePaul keeper Michael Timlin to the ball off a cross from Joe Morelli. Just 37 seconds later, UIC struck again as Dennis King took a pass and chipped it past Timlin for the second goal. Gradually, DePaul battled back with Anthony Minniti scoring his first goal of the season at 37:46. Bob Kruse found Minniti just outside of the box and he sent it home to the lower left corner of the goal. The score remained at 2-1 until the Blue Demons lined up for a free kick. Jonathan Foley took the kick and bent it over the UIC wall and past keeper Casey Pudwill. Foley’s score in the 79th was his first of the season and last of the match. In the two 10-minute overtime periods, both teams had opportunities to put the match away. Timlin made a number of saves as the DePaul defense locked down the UIC offense. The freshman keeper finished the match with six saves.
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.
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.
Up Next
The Blue Demons open the home portion of the schedule on Oct. 5 when they take on the Memphis Tigers. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Wish Field. Seven of the remaining 10 regular season matches will be played at Wish Field.