Live Blog Of The Horizon League Men's Soccer Championship
Nov. 16, 2008
by Josh Taylor, Horizon League Communications Intern
Loyola 1, Cleveland State 0
4:24 p.m. One last chance for Clevleand State with four seconds left, but they weren't able to get away a clean shot. The Ramblers win the League Championship for the second time in three years and second time overall. Congratulations to the Ramblers, and also to the Vikings who held their own throughout the game today. It's off to the NCAA Tournament for Loyola.
4:18 p.m.: Five minutes to go and if Loyola' lead holds it will be a reversal of last year's championship when UIC won on Loyola's home field.
4:13 p.m.: Surprisingly Loyola is still the more aggressive team almost taking a 2-0 lead, only to to be denied on a diving save by Harpel.
4:08 p.m.: 13 minutes left for Cleveland State to tie this game up and it's started to snow ever so lightly.
4:04 p.m.: CSU goalie Nick Harpel finally gets beat. Loyola forward Mark Halma was able to put a shot in the back of the net after Harpel could not control the rebound on a previous shot attempt. Speedster Willie Koss gets the assist for Loyola.
3:58 p.m.: Loyola just took their ninth corner kick of the game while Cleveland State has yet to take one. The problem for Loyola has been that they haven't gotten much air under their kicks. Under 20 minutes to go and it's still scoreless.
3:47 p.m.: After a flurry of activity for CSU goalie Nick Harpel early on, he hasn't had much work to start the second half despite Loyola being on the Vikings' side of the field the past few minutes.
3:35 p.m.: Cleveland State opened the second half the most aggressive they've been this weekend, but Loyola quickly shifted the pressure back to the other side of the field. 38 minutes remain in the championship game.
3:16 p.m.: A scoreless first half on the campus of UIC between fifth seeded Loyola and third seeded Cleveland State. It was a well played first half with 45 minutes remaining until the 2008 Horizon League Champion is crowned.
3:07 p.m.: This game is playing out eerily similar to the way Cleveland State played Butler in the semifinals where Butler had every opportunity throughout the game but could never find the net. Loyola is obviously hoping this game won't play out the same way.
2:54 p.m.: The first break of the game goes to Cleveland State. A Loyola goal was waved off as Loyola defender Tanner Krause fielded a ball off the goalpost and put it in the back of the net, only to have it waved off as the ball bounced off his arm before he scored for the hand ball.
2:50 p.m.: Loyola continues to stay in the attack keeping Cleveland State goalie Nick Harpel extremely busy. Meanwhile, I can't feel my toes.
2:35 p.m.: A couple early corner kicks and shots on goal for Loyola, but just like Friday night, Cleveland State gives up nothing.
2:25 p.m.: The teams are reluctantly taking their warmups off to face the chilly Chicago air and even the officials are bouncing around trying to stay warm. So far UIC's Sports Information Director John Jaramillo has kept the crowd entertained with some amateur DJ announcements over the loud speaker.
2:10 p.m.: 20 minutes before kickoff between Loyola and Cleveland State to determine who gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and it is freezing! Well almost - the high for today is 37.
