Women’s Soccer Suffers Loss to Wisconsin After Tough Fight

Loyola women’s soccer faced off against BIG-10 rival University of Wisconsin-Madison Thursday night, taking a tough 3-2 loss after a determined and physical second half. 

The first half started with collaborative efforts by Skyler Bierker, Amanda Cassidy and Alaina Abel at the top of Loyola’s offensive zone. Goalkeeper Naya Lipkens had two early saves to stop the Badgers offense from scoring. 

In the 20th minute Wisconsin’s Aryssa Mahrt snuck the ball past Abel and Lipkens to put the Badgers up 1-0. 

The Ramblers tried to trick the Badgers offensively with fast footwork and control of the ball which yielded a shot on goal by midfielder Jamiee Cibulka. However the shot was robbed by UW’s goalkeeper Erin McKinney. 

First-year forward Jadyn Harris showed out on the field against UW, playing with consistent passion and want for the ball. 

“We all are playing for each other,” Harris said. “Having high energy inspires my teammates and seeing them work hard really inspires me.”

In the 43rd minute, Harris’ hustle and teamwork paid off when she passed the ball to Cassidy who sank it into the back of the net. The goal made it a tir match with a minute and a half left, earning Harris an assist in the process.

Mere seconds after, UW’s Adee Boer had a clear shot on net giving the Badgers a 2-1 lead at the end of the first half. 

Head coach Barry Bimbi said he was focused on getting the Ramblers their energy back between the halves and learning from what went wrong. 

“Everything we are doing right now, we have to learn from and that will prepare us for conference play,” Bimbi said. 

Loyola started the second half with defensive plays by Abel and Lipkens to keep the score within one. First-year Zoe Hevey and Cibulka commanded the pitch with plays that kept the Loyola offense optimistic. 

The rest of the half maintained a back-and-forth style of play until UW was awarded a penalty kick after a foul by Abel. Emma Jaskaniec shot the ball into the top left corner to increase their lead to two.

About three minutes later, after a foul on UW’s Ella Ottey, Loyola was awarded a penalty kick which Madeleine Barone made, shrinking the Badgers’ lead to one. 

The match ended after a lot of physicality from both teams. Loyola was given five fouls and one yellow card after the last goal was scored, with a game total of 14 fouls and two yellow cards. UW was only given six fouls all game which, according to groaning Ramblers fans in attendance, was too few.

Overall, Bimbi said he is proud of the team for their performance against a highly skilled BIG-10 team and is ready to take the team to conference play. 

“I’m proud of the effort and I’m proud of the mentality,” Bimbi said about the team’s performance. 

Catch the Ramblers at their next game where they will travel down the Red Line to take on local rival DePaul University on Sunday Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. The team’s next home game is Thursday Sept. 14 against last year’s A-10 champion Saint Louis University at 7 p.m. 

Featured image by Aidan Cahill | The Phoenix