By Patrick Taylor Sports Editor
For the third straight year, the Loyola Men's Soccer team will be heading the the NCAA College Cup.
On Sunday, the Hounds defeated Niagra in the MAAC Championship with 23 seconds left to play on a goal by freshman Matt Tyrie to propel them to their third straight appearance.
With minimal time left on the clock, Tyrie broke through the Niagra defense, a defense that had been packing it in all day, and managed to blast a shot to the top right corner to beat the Niagra goalkeeper to give Loyola the 1-0 win in double overtime.
It wouldn't have been a game against Niagra without Phil Bannister getting an assist, and he was the one that picked up a loose ball and fed it to Tyrie for the game winning strike.
Loyola played Niagra earlier on in the season, but it was a completely different game.
A few weeks back, Loyola trounced Niagra by a score of 4-0, with all four goals being assisted by Bannister.
Sunday's game was a completely different game all together. Niagra decided to play Italian-esque football and keep ten or eleven players behind the ball at all times.
With that many bodies in the defensive zone, it was hard for Loyola to make a breakthrough, and when they did the shots were either half-chances or ambitious attempts.
A lot of the offensive pressure came during the overtime periods, with Loyola getting a few decent chances as fatigue began to set in for Niagra.
Daniel Ankrah had an opportunity in overtime to end it, but his shot found it's way to the net blocked, as did a Charlie Hutton shot.
Eddie Dines had a chance to end the game in the first overtime, but Niagra's keeper came up with a miraculous stop on his shot.
Dines cut across the 18-yard box, and ripped a hard, curling shot that was destined for the top right corner, but the keeper was more than equal to the shot.
Even though it looked like it was heading in to penalty kicks, Tyrie managed to come up and clinch an NCAA Tournament spot for the Loyola Greyhounds.
"I don't know too much [about the goal]," said Tyrie. "I am still in shock. I got a good pass from phil and was fortunate enough to find the back of the net."
Fortunate may be the wrong word to use, because everything about the shot seemed right, from the mechanics down to the placement.
One thing that showed as the game wore on was the fitness advantage that Loyola had against Niagra. The Hounds were still able to press and transition as the game wore on while Niagra seemed to wither away.
"It was an intense game that we took to Niagra from start to finish," said Dines. "We showed our fitness and resilience to make sure that we got the win we deserved."
Resilience was key for the Hounds this season, seeing as how they had many bumps along the way. However, those bumps have just been smoothed over by the sweet taste of victory when needed most.
"It was a tough game just as we expected," said Hutton. "We were so determined and our fitness showed through with 23 seconds left.
"We had our ups and downs this season, but we've stuck together and it feels great to win a championship."
The Hounds definitely deserved the title after battling back from a tough nonconference schedule to claim the number two seed in in the MAAC tournament.
It also seemed as though the Hounds had last year's MAAC Championship loss on their minds as they entered Sunday's affair against Niagra.
"It's a fantastic achievment for the program and a greatly deserved MAAC Championship," said Jamie Darvill. "I couldn't be happier with all of our players."
Of course, none of this ever would have been possible if the Hounds didn't beat Fairfield on Friday.
In the regular season, the Hounds and Fairfield played to a scoreless draw, but that didn't happen this time, with Ankrah grabbing a goal and Wade McHugh netting two more to give Loyola a 3-0 victory.
Loyola took a 1-0 lead 21 minutes into the competition when a free kick taken by Bannister was flicked in at the near post by Ankrah.
The goal proved to be the game winner and Ankrah's third goal of the season. All of his goals this season have been game winning goals for the Hounds.
Ankrah wasn't done helping out on the offensive end either, assisting McHugh's first goal of the competition less than eight minutes after his goal.
Loyola transitioned quickly after Fairfueld was on the offensive, and Ankrah sprayed a ball behind the Stags defense and put McHugh through on a breakaway that he calmly slotted past the keeper.
The score stayed that way until the 86th minute when McHugh found his name on the score sheet again.
Bannister was able to find some space and knock the ball across the goal mouth to a wide open McHugh who tapped the ball into the empty net to give the Hounds a 3-0 victory and a date with Niagra on Sunday.
Tennant McVea was announced as the MAAC Championship's Most Valuable Player after leading Loyola to two shutout victories.
Joining him on the All-Tournament Team were Mike Deasel, Bannister and McHugh, all of whom made tremendous contributions over the weekend.
Because of Loyola's record and the fact that the MAAC doesn't garner a lot of respect, look for Loyola to take on a top ten team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
My instincts tell me that the Hounds will have to go up against either Maryland or Virginia, but it's also possible that they will draw Duke, UNC, Wake Forest or Monmouth.
Two years ago in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Hounds played Maryland to a scoreless draw at College Park, but ended up losing the game in penalty kicks.
Editor's Note: The NCAA bracket was just released Monday night at 5:30 p.m., and Loyola will play Maryland on Thursday November 19th at College Park. Gametime will be 7 p.m.
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