Despite a 4-3-0 record, Loyola men's soccer is ranked #25 in the country in the NCAA D-1 men's soccer rankings released today, thanks to a very tough schedule and a lot of parity early in the season. Loyola's only three losses have come 1-0 in overtime at #9 Valpo, by a 1-0 score at #14 Michigan State, and 2-1 at Butler (ranked #54). The Ramblers' four wins have come against #67 Dayton, #91 Utah Valley, #105 Western Michigan, and #116 Bradley.

This week the Ramblers play Wednesday at #119 DePaul, and on Saturday at home against #110 Northern Illinois.

The NCAA rankings are NOT the most recognized rankings in NCAA men's soccer, they're more like an RPI rating. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America in conjunction with Continental Tire releases the weekly rankings on Tuesday (voted on by SIDs and Coaches) that most colleges cite for rankings. Still, it's nice for LU to reach the Top 25. If the Ramblers can get good results from DePaul on Wednesday and Northern Illinois on Saturday, they're likely to get some votes in next week's poll.

Thanks JCT for "digging up" this information. I appreciate all the time and effort you put into keeping us updated on all of the Rambler teams. This will make following the match against DePaul even more interesting.

Wow it's nice to see some really positive results coming around in I believe this coach's 2nd season? We've always had a decently competitive team in the recent past, but I don't know if they were ever this good.

This is one of the reasons why I'm generally very positive about Loyola sports. I figured this would be a tough year for men's soccer, because Loyola lost one of its best offensive players (Eric Nock) from a generally weak offensive team last year. I also thought the MVC would be a little better this year than last, but that has yet to be established. What I absolutely didn't count on was how big the back line has come up this year in front of a very good and experienced goalkeeper (junior Tim Dobrowolski). At this time last year (seven games in), Loyola had allowed 14 goals against nine scored. Through seven games this year, the Ramblers have allowed only five goals against seven scored-- against better overall competition.

When you add this to the fact that Loyola finished last in the MVC in only one sport in our first year in the conference last year (unfortunately, the only last place finish was in our marquee sport of men's basketball), and won a National Championship in men's volleyball, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Last year we reached the conference final in softball, and won our first round conference tournament games in men's and women's basketball. Golf, track, and cross country have also done well. Men's volleyball won 27 matches in a row, went undefeated on the road, earned a #1 national ranking for most of the season, and had the most dominating year of any NCAA men's volleyball team since 2008. It wasn't all that long ago-- five or seven years ago-- where we were constantly at the bottom of the Horizon League in almost every sport.

There have been some disappointments this year (the women's volleyball collapse at home against Missouri State last weekend, the women's soccer loss at UIC last Sunday), but there are reasons for encouragement. The women's basketball schedule is EXCELLENT, and the team should be healthy and very strong this year; an early upset or two could possibly earn a ranking. Women's soccer started off conference play with an impressive 2-0 win on the road at last year's MVC runner up, Indiana State, last week.

The reason I'm focusing on so many otherwise unnoticed sports is this: a school that finishes near the bottom in every sport they play shows you that they're not serious about athletics, or there's a bigger problem going on than injuries or just a bad recruiting patch. We have turned that issue completely around from five or six years ago. Highlighting and celebrating a winning mentality will someday (soon, I hope) carry over to the more noticed sports.