Aug. 26, 2011

CHICAGO - The Loyola women's soccer team fell to Dayton, 3-0, Friday afternoon in the opening game of the Northwestern Tournament in Evanston, Ill. The Ramblers (2-1-0) notched their first loss of the season in a hard-fought contest against the Flyers (3-0-0).

Loyola started strong in the first half, controlling much of the midfield and creating offensive action. Jessie Hubly, Tessa Daniels, and Valerie Gonyo maintained a strong front on defense to shut down multiple scoring opportunities for Dayton and catch the Flyers offsides for a total of five violations.

Freshman Monica Gonyo earned her third start of the season at goalkeeper. She saw a lot of action between the posts as Dayton tallied 21 shots in the match. Gonyo posted fives saves in the loss to fall to 2-1-0 on the season.

It was not until the 38th minute that the Flyers found their wings to get past the Rambler defense and score their first goal of the game. Haley Keller sent a shot across the net to the lower left corner, past a diving attempt from Gonyo.

The Flyers struck again early in the second half when Juliana Libertin connected with a cross for a header into the left side of the goal. Twelve minutes later, Alexis Garcia found the back of the net with a long shot from outside of the box to make it a 3-0 game.

Senior Lauren Ostarello led the Ramblers with two shots. Freshman Valerie Gonyo and junior Sally Tashjian added one shot each to round out the team total of four. While posting no statistics in the match, Maggie Olsen was a spark on offense towards the end of the game, continually crashing the net in hopes of putting the Ramblers on the scoreboard.

Loyola will take on Cincinnati to conclude their run in the Northwestern Tournament on Sunday, Aug. 28. The Ramblers will take on the Bearcats at 12:00 p.m. CST in Evanston, Ill.

http://loyolaramblers.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/082611aab.html