2014 Men’s Soccer Preview

Unlike on the women’s side, the MVC is a top conference in men’s soccer, ranking 11th in league RPI in 2013—even after losing perennial men’s soccer power Creighton from the previous year.  Three of the seven MVC men’s soccer teams ranked in the top 100 in RPI in 2013:  Bradley (#49), Drake(#61), and league champion Missouri State (#97).  Loyola was picked to finish seventh (last) in the MVC preseason poll and sixth by Ramblermania as a newcomer to the league in 2013, but finished the year in fifth place with a 2-3-1 record (6-11-2 overall).

The 2014 Loyola Ramblers return seven starters from their inaugural season in the MVC, a season that was highly competitive except for defensive meltdowns in a few  games against top competition.  Against Big East, Big 10, and ranked opponents the Ramblers were 0-5 and outscored 18-4; against all others Loyola had a respectable 6-6-2 record and were outscored by only two goals on the season.  Loyola will need to put goals in the back of the net more consistently and play tighter defense to compete this year, especially given the loss of their second-best scorer Eric Nock to graduation.

Senior Brian Bement will be expected to take up much of the scoring slack.  The mercurial forward ranked 2nd in the MVC last season in goals scored with eight, despite coming off the bench in limited playing time for most of the second half of the season.  Two juniors– midfielder Ryan Howe and forward Jake Savino will need to score more consistently.  Big 6’4” freshman  forward Elliot Collier from New Zealand may add a slightly different offensive look to this year’s team.  Senior Brian Lunar, junior Daniel Hare, and sophomore Kirill Likhovid will anchor the back line in front of experienced junior goalkeeper Tim Dobrowolski.

Defending league regular season champs Missouri State are the favorites to win the conference in 2014.  MSU returns nine starters from last year’s team that featured a smothering defense that allowed only eight goals on the entire season, and had a stretch of seven consecutive games (plus four overtime periods) without allowing a single goal.  Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, picked to finish first last year and returning almost all of their starters from 2013, may challenge for the league title along with Bradley and Evansville (also returning nearly all their starters).

It would be encouraging to see Loyola match their fifth place finish from 2013, but absent a very surprising season-long performance from a newcomer or an epiphany on the back line, Ramblermania sees the conference race shaping up like this:

  1. Missouri State
  2. Evansville
  3. SIUE
  4. Bradley
  5. Drake
  6. Loyola
  7. Central Arkansas

The regular season kicks off at Loyola Soccer Park on Sat., Aug. 30 at 7:00 p.m. when Dayton visits in a return game from last season.  The conference season begins Sat., Sept. 27 when Bradley visits Loyola Soccer Park at 7:00 p.m.

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