Sunday, November 20, 2016, 5:00 p.m. Central
Alumni Stadium, Notre Dame, Ind.

A trip to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 is on the line for the Ramblers, who are in the Round of 32 after never before advancing past the first round in the 48 team tournament. Loyola beat UIC 2-0 in Rogers Park on Thursday to raise their record to 14-3-1 before a record crowd of 1023 at Loyola Soccer Park.

The Irish have been idle since they were eliminated from the ACC tournament by Wake Forest, 1-0 on November 6. Notre Dame is one of nine ACC teams in the tournament, tops by far among conferences. Notre Dame has dominated the all-time rivalry with a 14-3-2 record against the Ramblers. The two schools were conference foes in the MCC in the 80s and 90s, and for a brief period from 1990 to 1994, Loyola had a 3-2-1 record against the Irish. The two teams last faced each other in 2004.

This season, Loyola is 3-3-1 on the road and Notre Dame is 7-1-2 at home.

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m- ... 16aac.html

Notre Dame game notes: http://www.und.com/sports/m-soccer/spec ... 16aaa.html

TV/Streaming video: ESPN3 ( http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/i ... tournament )

A great season comes to an end. ND won 1-0. Loyola held off the strong attack for 77 minutes before giving up the winning goal. They had some good chances to tie it, but ND was able to stop it. I was happy to see them rise up in the polls, and make the NCAA tournament. Hopefully next year they take another step forward!

Got a little too sloppy trying to make some extra passes in front of the goal instead of clearing it away on that goal. And too many little finesse passes are being used to set up attacks. Hopefully those aspects get better next year.

A great season that I don't think many expected. We were picked for third in the preseason poll. Fantastic to get the ranking, to see the team develop so much from last season to this. If not for the 2nd half equalizing goal by Missouri State in the semifinals of the MVC tournament, the Ramblers might have gotten a much better seed in the tournament. That untimely loss in overtime knocked Loyola's RPI down from 11 to 16--- and every eligible team with a better RPI than Loyola (and two with worse) got a seeding and a first round bye in the bracket. We actually might have gotten a home game against Notre Dame.

MVC conference mates SIUE managed to beat Butler, the second time in this tournament they move forward from a 0-0 game on penalty kicks. They'll face the highest remaining seed, Wake Forest. Undefeated #1 seed Maryland managed to lose at home to Providence by the unlikely score of 5-4.