Ramblers Fall to DePaul in Red Line Rivalry

The Loyola men’s soccer team were beaten 3-1 by Red Line rivals DePaul University Sept. 24 following the annual “Hustle to Hoyne” event. The Ramblers’ lone goal scorer of the evening was first-year midfielder Luka Ivancic in the 74th minute.

Six minutes in, Loyola was first to get an offensive opportunity when second-year forward Petar Janjic was one-on-one with the keeper, but his ball grazed the legs of the fourth-year Blue Demon goalkeer Santiagio Davila and clipped the left post.

DePaul was unable to capitalize on their first shot of the evening — the ball went wide right of the net.

In the 17th minute, Loyola played a freekick to first-year defender Ameer Abdullah, whose header went right into the hands of Davila.

Immediately after the attempt, DePaul’s clearance landed in the possession of first-year midfielder Benji Chavarria. As Chavarria reset the attack, he fell into graduate DePaul forward Logan Finnegan.

The referee whistled a foul, but as Finnegan ran away from the scene, he promptly smashed into the shoulder of Abdullah, leading to some light back and forth between players.

Between the 26th and 28th minutes, the Ramblers suddenly found themselves down two.

The Blue Demons’ first goal came off a corner kick by second-year Blue Demon midfielder Noeh Hernandez, when third-year DePaul defender George Wyatt got control of the ball and smashed into the top right corner of the net.

The Ramblers were able to recollect and move the ball downfield, but were unable to capitalize. A bad pass in the Ramblers’ defensive half allowed DePaul second-year midfielder Noeh Hernandez to dribble the ball from outside the box and deposit it into the net’s bottom left corner for the 2-0 lead.

In the 30th minute, Loyola had another chance when third-year forward Angel Mendez snatched the ball from a poor DePaul pass back, but his shot flew squarely into the hands of Davila for an easy save.

With 13 minutes until half-time, the Ramblers were unable to take advantage of back-to-back corner kicks.

The Blue Demons had a chance to further extend their lead in the 43rd minute when DePaul second-year forward Liam Mullins ripped a shot, but it was parried away and collected by Loyola second-year goalkeeper Alex Ortiz.

The Ramblers had the last opportunity of the half when a ball dropped between the legs of a Blue Demon defender and into Mendez’s path, but his shot sailed well over the net and halftime was called with the Blue Demons up 2-0.

Head coach Steve Bode discussed how the early missed chances set the tone.

“One of the main things was the opportunities that we had early — not converting on those were huge,” Bode said. “We had a breakaway one-on-one and then a header one-v-one and some really good chances. I think if one of those goes in, it’s probably a different game.”

DePaul continued their consistent offensive pressure in the opening half, while the Ramblers were unable to make good on three separate chances in the 50th, 51st and 54th minutes.

Janjic had another opportunity to score in the 57th minute, but the shot rolled harmlessly right of the net for the goal kick. 

Four minutes later, DePaul first-year defender Nolan McGuire was given a yellow card for a tackle on the previous play.

The Ramblers continued to push to get one back as a shot from Mendez went wide in the 61st minute and first-year forward Arved von Vegesack had an attempt land directly at Davila three minutes later.

In the 74th minute, Ivancic put the Loyola crowd on their feet when he broke free of the DePaul defensive line, lifting the ball over Davila and into the back of the net to bring the score to 2-1.

Second-year midfielder Jack McCreely nearly brought the Ramblers level, soon after being subbed on, with a hard shot at Davila, who spilled the ball momentarily but was able to recover.

The Ramblers had another defensive mare when a hard pass from the DePaul defense to Loyola’s final third wasn’t cleared properly and Ortiz had to slide to get the ball out of the danger area.

The Ramblers lost all momentum in the 82nd minute when a DePaul freekick from Hernandez connected with Mullin, who headed the ball across the box and into the far left of the net.

McFeely had two consecutive shots deflected away by the DePaul defense a minute later, and the Ramblers were unable to make anything out of the resulting corner. 

The Blue Demons almost tallied another when Ortiz found himself one-on-one against DePaul second-year midfielder Chase Stegall, but Ortiz was able to dive and collect the ball before any damage was done.

Loyola was responsible for the final events of the match as redshirt third-year midfielder Matthew Andrusko received a yellow card for a bad tackle in the 88th minute and another McFeely attempt was grabbed by Davila. The match quietly drew to a 3-1 close.

The Ramblers significantly outshot their opponents with 21 shots compared to DePaul’s eight. The Blue Demons committed 18 fouls during the match — four more than Loyola.

Fourth-year Kamran Tejumola said the rivalry-heightened emotions made the match physically demanding.

“Definitely frustrating, but it’s a gritty team,” Tejumola said. “They got their result, so fair play to them — can’t take it away from them. Every year it’s a dogfight. Probably will be again next year.”

Bode echoed a similar sentiment.

“Obviously we’re disappointed in the results for sure,” Bode said. “I think we never gave up, we fought to the end.”
The Ramblers will travel to south Saturday Sept. 28 to face off against Saint Louis University. The match will start at 7:30 p.m. CT and can be streamed on ESPN+.