The 2013 Fall sports season is upon us, with men’s and women’s soccer exhibitions beginning in less than two weeks. As Loyola prepares for its first season in the MVC, it’s a good time to take a look at the state of fall sports, the lay of the land in the MVC, cover some recent history, and make some predictions for league competition.
Women’s Volleyball
Even though last year’s MVC women’s volleyball champ Creighton is no longer in the conference, no one should think that the MVC will be any easier in 2013. The University of Northern Iowa has been a women’s volleyball powerhouse for the past several years. In fact, when UNI finished 15-3 in the MVC last season, it was the first time they’d lost a single conference match since 2008, going a perfect 18-0 in conference play in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Wichita State is also a very solid MVC volleyball school, having finished in the top three in conference every year for at least the past half-decade. Last year, the Valley had three teams (Creighton, UNI, and WSU) in the NCAA Tournament, with all three advancing past the opening round and third place WSU as an at large reaching the Sweet 16.
This year, UNI is still in relative “rebuilding” mode, having lost five seniors and with half their 2013 roster as freshmen. But the Panthers also have half their roster measuring 6 feet or taller, and enough coaching experience and winning tradition to be the favorite. UNI coach and former player Bobbi Petersen begins her 13th season in charge with a 322-78 coaching record, five regular season titles, seven conference tournament titles, and two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances. She’s guided the Panthers to 20 wins or more in 11 of her 12 seasons as coach.
The young Ramblers, under third-year head coach Chris Muscat, are coming off a 17-12 season in which they went 8-6 in the much weaker Horizon League. Although filled with some promising newcomers, Loyola features a roster heavy with freshmen and sophomores, and only one senior.
The MVC routinely sends several teams deep into the NCAA Tournament in women’s volleyball, and the league’s non-conference schedules are peppered with ranked opponents from the upper strata of the national rankings. It promises to be a year of trial by fire for Loyola in women’s volleyball, with a 6th place finish probably about the best that could be reasonably expected in this new, much tougher league.
The 2013 women’s volleyball season begins August 30 with the Blue/Gold Tournament in Toledo, Ohio. The first home match is against the University of Washington at Gentile Arena on Sunday, September 15 at 3:00 p.m. Loyola’s first conference contest as a member of the MVC will be the women’s volleyball match versus powerful Northern Iowa at the Gentile Arena on Friday, September 20 at 7:00 p.m., followed by Drake visiting the Joe 24 hours later.
Women’s Soccer
Diving into the MVC in women’s soccer is not nearly as daunting. With Loyola joining the conference and Creighton departing, only seven teams will be competing in women’s soccer in 2013; Southern Illinois, Bradley, and Wichita State do not field women’s soccer teams, and the MVC’s single entry in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, Illinois State, was paired with a 4 seed in the bracket. The MVC’s defending regular season champion is Evansville, who somehow won the honor despite compiling a 5-8-3 overall season record.
Illinois State may have the inside track on a return to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of being tabbed to host the conference tournament in 2013, but they suffer from a lack of experience that might make them vulnerable in league play. Drake—featuring a roster laden with upperclassmen and coming off a strong third place finish in 2012—might be the odds on favorite to challenge for the regular season conference title.
Loyola is coming off a very inconsistent and lackluster 2012 campaign in which the defensive-minded squad compiled a 2-3-2 record in the Horizon League. Seven of Loyola’s matches against Horizon League foes featured only one goal or less; the squad played 13 overtime periods on the season and lost its bid for an NCAA Tournament berth in the second overtime of a 1-0 game. The Ramblers split their two games against MVC foes in 2012, winning 1-0 at Indiana State and losing 1-0 at eventual MVC champ Illinois State.
On the plus side, stingy goalkeeper Monica Gonyo returns as a junior with more experience and a familiar group of starters on the back line, anchored by goalie Monica Gonyo’s 5’11” twin sister Valerie Gonyo. The roster is composed of 10 juniors, who have had two years of experience to become familiar with each other, plus four seniors.
Loyola has a very good chance of competing for the conference title, especially if the team can learn to score more efficiently on set pieces and corners while maintaining their tight-knit and hard-working defense. I’m picking the Ramblers to finish second in conference and think they’ll reach the title game in Normal.
Loyola kicks off the season Sunday, August 18 at 1:00 p.m. with an exhibition against Valparaiso at Loyola Soccer Park. The first regular season game is Friday, August 23 at South Dakota. The first home game is Sunday, September 1 at noon against Indiana University. The conference season begins Friday, September 27, when Indiana State visits Loyola Soccer Park at 7:00 p.m.
Men’s Soccer
In 2012 the MVC men’s soccer champion went undefeated in conference play, reached a ranking of #12 in the country by the end of the season, and defeated three ranked teams in the NCAA Tournament. They reached the Men’s Soccer Final Four for the second consecutive year, only to lose 1-0 in the semifinals to the eventual National Champion Indiana University. Fortunately for Loyola and the other teams in MVC men’s soccer in 2013, that team was now former MVC member, Creighton University.
Despite losing one of the best teams in the country with Creighton’s departure, the MVC remains a strong conference in men’s soccer, even though only five full conference members (including Loyola) compete. Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and Central Arkansas University join Bradley, Missouri State, Evansville, Drake and (now) Loyola to fill out the conference competition.
Although the main campus of Southern Illinois University doesn’t compete in either men’s or women’s soccer, the Edwardsville version of Southern Illinois University has become quite accomplished in men’s soccer. Since St. Louis University won multiple national championships in soccer in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the St. Louis area has been a hotbed of college soccer, and SIUE has reaped the rewards of high interest in the region.
SIUE will be the top returning team in the MVC, having compiled a 13-7-0 record overall in 2012 and 4-2-0 in MVC conference play. Bradley, who has had a very strong men’s soccer program for many years, finished the 2012 season at 10-6-4 overall and 3-2-1 in conference; the Braves will host the MVC tournament this year in Peoria, giving them an inside track on reaching the NCAA Tournament.
As with women’s volleyball, Loyola’s move to the MVC is going to be a large step up in the level of competition. Loyola finished the 2012 campaign with a 5-12-2 overall record and a 2-3-2 Horizon League conference mark, but managed to make it to the Horizon League men’s soccer conference final only to lose to Cleveland State, 2-0. Significantly, Loyola lost FOUR non-conference games to MVC foes last year: 2-1 in OT to Central Arkansas to open the season at home, followed by a 3-1 loss at Drake, a 1-0 loss at Creighton, and a 3-0 loss hosting Bradley. That’s four losses by a 9-2 goal difference against teams Loyola will face this year in conference play.
The Ramblers will face this new challenge with a new coach. New Zealand native Neil Jones, a former associate head coach at Northwestern University, was named head coach of the Loyola just after the end of last season. Jones helped Northwestern to 2 Big 10 championships in his three years there, and helped guide UC Santa Barbara to the 2006 national championship as an assistant.
Loyola’s 2013 schedule is challenging, featuring four games against 2012 NCAA Tournament participants (three of whom won at least one game in the tournament), 8 of 12 non-conference games at road or neutral sites, plus a full conference slate against MVC teams.
Men’s soccer begins with two exhibitions: Monday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Loyola Soccer Park versus the University of Chicago, and Friday, August 23 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana versus Xavier. After opening on the road August 30 against Big Blue in Ann Arbor, the home opener is Monday, September 2 at 1:00 p.m. againt Grand Canyon University. The first conference game is October 5 at Missouri State.
Given the steep rise in competition and a new coach, the Ramblers may be in for a very tough year in the win column that may serve them well in building for the future. I’ll pick the Ramblers to finish 6th out of seven teams under a new coach in the MVC, but the lessons learned in a rebuilding year will yield much better finishes in the near future.
Cross Country
The MVC is a much more competitive league in Cross Country than the Horizon, but the Ramblers have been building toward meeting this increased level of competition by performing well in the Horizon. The Cross Country squad is dominated by seniors on the men’s side and juniors and sophomores on the women’s side.
Second-year coach Randy Hasenbank, a Wichita State alum, has had experience at Wichita State and Alabama before coming to Loyola. Loyola swept last fall’s men’s and women’s team championships in the Horizon League. I don’t know if Loyola is yet on the same plateau with venerable running programs like Wichita State, Drake and Indiana State—that will take more time. But I think Loyola will make some noise, and has the potential to create rivalries and build for the future.
To discuss the upcoming Loyola fall sports season, visit the Ramblermania Message Board.
