CHICAGO, Ill. – Despite creating the majority of the chances and controlling possession, the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team fell to Loyola-Chicago, 1-0, on Tuesday night at Loyola Soccer Park. Alex Lasinski scored the lone goal in the 79th minute to lead the Ramblers to the victory. 

"It was disappointing to lose tonight, I thought we played really well, particularly in the opening 20 minutes," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We got a lot of looks on goal over the 90 minutes, so it is very disappointing to not find the net. I think we shut off a little bit on their goal, so disappointing on both sides of the ball.

"There was a lot of positives to take out of the game, we just have to make sure we regroup and get ready for Western Michigan."

NIU (8-6-1) controlled possession in the early going and nearly opened the scoring inside the first five minutes as a shot from freshman Louis Sala (West Bloomfield, Mich./Orchard Lake St. Mary's) was deflected by a Loyola defender before Rambler goalkeeper Josh Lagudah was able to scramble it away. 

Sala had another chance in the 23rd minute as excellent combination by from the Huskies in the final third ended with a shot from the Huskie freshman that whistled just wide of the left post from just outside the box. 

After the Huskies dominated possession in the opening 30 minutes, Loyola saw more of the ball in the final quarter-hour of the opening half and NIU goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia) was called into action for the first time in the 43rd minute, comfortably holding a shot from Lasinski as the Huskies and Ramblers went to the intermission scoreless. 

Loyola (9-4-2) created the first chance after the interval as a shot from Aidan Megally found the palms of Dziedzic in the 49th minute. Just second later, NIU had an excellent chance as freshman Jaden Stevenson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Sturgeon Bay) forced Lagudah into a diving save to keep the match even. 

Just past the hour mark the Huskies had a great chance as senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) and Stevenson combined down the right before the ball came across to the left side to freshman Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) but his shot was stopped by the foot of Lagudah in the 64th minute.

NIU had another chance in the 76th minute as a free kick from about 30 yards led to a shot from Sala that was straight at Lagudah as the match remained scoreless. 

Loyola broke the deadlock three minutes later as Lasinski gave the Ramblers a 1-0 lead. Loyola may have been offside in the buildup, and the NIU backline hesitated as a result, but the flag stayed down as Tucker Stevenson found Lasinski who finishes past Dziedzic to open the scoring. 

The Huskies went immediately on the attack following the Loyola goal. Freshman Diego Sanz (Mompia, Spain/La Marina) had a shot that was held by Lagudah in the 83rd minute and, a minute later, Anthony Markanich had a header cleared off the line by the Loyola defense from a corner. 

Just a minute after the chance from Anthony Markanich, freshman Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) headed off the crossbar off a free kick from midfield as the Huskies continued to press for an equalizer. 

NIU continued to push but couldn't find a breakthrough as Loyola claimed the 1-0 victory. Lagudah finished with seven saves in goal for the Ramblers while Dziedzic made three for NIU. 

The Huskies will return to conference play this Saturday, October 27, when they travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to face Western Michigan. Game time against the Broncos is slated for 12 p.m. CT.