Men’s football is at its peak in the last match of the 2024 season

The Loyola men’s soccer team advanced through its final regular-season game on Nov. 2, scoring four goals past Saint Joseph’s University at Hoyne Field. Third-year midfielder Ben Bischof’s first-half brace put the Ramblers ahead, and second-half goals from third-year forward Hugo Uridales and redshirt third-year Matthew Andrusko sealed the deal.

Before the opening kickoff, Loyola honored seven fourth-year seniors for senior day in front of a large Hoyne crowd. All seven fourth-years started or were replaced at halftime and served as the focal point of head coach Steve Bode’s pre-game speech.

“We talked about playing for them,” Bode said. “A lot of our energy and emotion of wanting to send them away was there.”

After the opening whistle blew, the Ramblers’ first of 25 shots of the evening came within three minutes as Bischof’s first attempt of the evening went well over the top crossbar.

The Hawks’ third-year midfielder Luke Johnson responded a minute later with a shot into the top right of the net, but it was saved by redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Aidan Crawford.

In the 11th minute, Saint Joseph’s graduate forward Campell McIntyre was booked for a rough tackle on sophomore defender Grant Bailey.

Sophomore forward Petar Janjic missed two more attempts on net, the first going wide and the second saved by the Hawks’ fourth-year goalkeeper Lars Haavie in a last-ditch effort.

The Ramblers finally broke through in the 20th minute, when graduate defender and midfielder Julian Cisneros carried the ball along the goal line and crossed into Bischof for a quick tap over Haavie’s head.

Bischof got his second just a minute later, as the Hawks’ kickoff collapsed under heavy pressure from the Rambler forwards. Through a quick series of two passes, the ball eventually made way for Bischof, who calmly sank the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 score.

In the 27th minute, a corner pass was lifted high enough for Cisneros to attempt a bicycle kick, but his shot went wide to the right of the net. Four minutes later, Hawks fourth-year forward Blake Driehuis was given a yellow card for dissent after a tackle.

Saint Joseph’s set the pace in the remaining 15 minutes of the first half, registering seven shots to the Ramblers’ three. Of those seven shots, four went wide, and the other three were saved by Crawford.

Redshirt third-year midfielder Quinten Blair was booked for a bad header collision in the 42nd minute, but the Ramblers remained on top 2–0 at the end of the first half.

Three minutes into the second half, Uridales scored a shot from just outside the penalty area, where the ball sailed over Haavie’s outstretched hands and into the back right corner of the net, giving them a 3–0 lead.

Over the next 22 minutes, the offenses continued to find limited success as nine shots between the teams were off target or saved. Seven fouls on the same stretch culminated in the 70th minute, when Janjic was booked for a bad tackle.

In the 74th minute, Driehuis was fouled in the penalty area, giving the Hawks a penalty opportunity. Driehuis’s subsequent penalty and a diving Crawford ended with the ball being recovered and the scoreboard remaining the same.

Despite being temporarily subbed off in the 80th minute for redshirt third-year Jameis Fite, Crawford’s seven-save performance later earned him the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week award.

After an extended Rambler possession ended in a Cisneros foul, Haavie’s pass was stolen back into play by redshirt third-year Matthew Andrusko and slotted into the net for a 4–0 score, marking Andrusko’s first career goal in four years with the team .

Andrusko thanked his team and family for the special occasion.

“The coaches just gave me the motivation and confidence to go out there and put all the energy I can into the team,” Andrusko said. “It’s a golden opportunity for me to be able to show what I can do with my family here and all my teammates supporting me – it felt great.”

Saint Joseph’s eventually got one back when Driehuis converted a rebound in the 83rd minute to make it 4-1, but the distance remained too great.

With the exception of a yellow card for Loyola’s third-year defenseman TJ Cairney for a huge shoulder check, neither side was able to break through and the match came to a close.

In a game that produced a total of 37 fouls, Bode praised the team for keeping their cool.

“A lot of physicality, a lot of fouls, all that stuff,” Bode said. “I was proud of the way our guys handled it and kept playing and secured the win.”

Due to LaSalle University’s late 2-1 win over George Washington University an hour earlier, the Ramblers’ 2024 season comes to an end as the team finished as the ninth seed with a conference record of 3-5-1 and one point behind LaSalle. , unable to make the conference playoffs.