CHICAGO, Ill. – Loyola scored the only goal through Aidan Megally in the 76th minute as the Ramblers defeated the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at Loyola Soccer Park. Loyola's goal came against the run of play in the contest as NIU held a 14-5 advantage in shots in the match, including a 6-3 edge in shots on target.

The first chance of the contest came for the Huskies in the 19th minute as junior Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) laid the ball off to senior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) coming down the right wing on the counterattack but the senior forward was unable to direct his chance on target.

Loyola had its only sight of goal in the first half in the 26th minute as a free kick was whipped in toward the penalty spot where Andrew Mitchell was the first to it, but he headed well wide as the match remained scoreless.

Ten minutes later Mitchell prevented a goal on the best chance for either team in the opening 45 minutes. Redshirt freshman Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) latched on to a ball from out of the back, fighting off a Rambler defender and the goalkeeper inside the box to send the ball toward an empty net, but Mitchell was able to recover in behind and clear the attempt off the line.

Loyola had the first look at goal in the second 45 minutes when Justin Sukow held off a Huskie defender inside the box and was able to drop it into the path of Megally who whistled a shot high in the 50th minute.

The Ramblers had another chance off a corner in the 53rd minute on a shot by Alex Moskal but NIU senior goalkeeper Christoph Koninger (Achern, Germany/Gymnasium Achern) was able to make a save and the Huskies scrambled the ball away. NIU went immediately on the attack just a minute later as junior Carlos Valdez (Houston, Texas/Richland College) forced a good save from Loyola goalkeeper Marcel Kampman who had come well off his line to cut down the angle and keep the match scoreless.

In the 67th minute, it was Loyola's turn to have a ball cleared off the line as a Rambler corner went to the back post where Tyler Biggs headed back across goal, inside the post but sophomore Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) was able to leap up and head the ball off the line.

Loyola finally got the breakthrough in the 76th minute as Megally scored directly from a free kick. The Ramblers earned the set piece about 23 yards from goal and Koninger just got a hand to Megally's shot, but only enough to push it off the post and into the net.

NIU piled on the pressure in the final quarter-hour looking for the equalizer. Freshman Luis Hernandez (Mesquite, Texas/Lone Star) has a great opportunity in the 83rd minute, collecting a second ball just on the top of the box and firing a shot that forced a good save from Kampman.

Four minutes later, the ball bounced kindly across the box to sophomore Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) all alone at the back post but he couldn't make clean contact, sending his short range shot directly at Kampman as the Ramblers held on for the 1-0 victory.

Kampman finished with five saves for Loyola; Koninger made one save for NIU.

The Huskies will make their regular season home debut on Friday, September 6, when they host Green Bay. Kickoff against the Phoenix is slated for 7 p.m.