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All-business Loyola seals
deal vs. Mother McAuley 

Prompt Ramblers build early lead, cruise to 4-0 win



By Steve Millar 

CHICAGO – Loyola approaches every road game like a business trip. Once the Ramblers are on the field, even in pregame, they lock in. 

“We’ve talked all season long about how the game starts for us as soon as we arrive on the field and that starts in our warmups,” Loyola coach Shannon Hartinger said. “Then, we talk about coming out right away with high intensity at the start of the game to see if we can score early or at least put the other team under pressure right away.” 

The Ramblers did that Tuesday night, scoring three minutes in and quickly building a multi-goal lead on their way to a 4-0 win over host Mother McAuley in a Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Red Division game at Saint Xavier University. 

With the victory, Loyola (12-1-2, 8-0-0) clinched at least a share of the league title and can take the championship outright with a win in either of its final two games: a rematch Thursday with McAuley (5-8-0, 3-6-0) or a regular-season-ending Friday match against St. Ignatius.  

“One of our goals was to win the GCAC Red, so we’re excited to being on our way to doing that and hopefully we will close it out,” Hartinger said. 

Tuesday, it was all about the fast start for Loyola.  

“I really think it was just our warmup, coming out with everyone focused,” junior midfielder Kaitlyn Kurtz said. “When we start games, we’re always so confident. 

“When we score early, I think it takes off the pressure and lets us lay back a little bit, which is really nice.” 

The Ramblers struck in the third minute when junior midfielder Grace Ehlert headed in a well-placed corner kick from junior defender Molly Sipe. 

“Starting off with intensity has been a really big theme in practices,” Sipe said. “Scoring early has been a big goal this season.” 

Kurtz, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, was involved in the rest of Loyola’s goals.  

In the 15th minute, she played a pass to junior forward Kathryn Diblik, who got behind the Mighty Macs defense and finished on a low shot that just snuck under diving goalkeeper Caitlin McGrane to make it 2-0. 

Kurtz and Diblik reversed roles a few minutes later, as Diblik got the ball and played a quick pass to Kurtz in the middle of the box. Kurtz knocked in a bouncing shot to give the Ramblers a 3-0 lead in the 19th minute. 

“It was just a perfect pass to me, and I was just there to finish it,” Kurtz said.  

In the 34th minute, Kurtz made a big run down the right side of the field before setting up Brooke Semple. Semple broke open down the middle of the field, charged right at McGrane in the goal and slipped a shot past her to make it 4-0.  

Kurtz was pleased with her two assists; she enjoys distribution.  

“I think that’s my main part on the team and where I can make the biggest difference,” Kurtz said. 

Hartinger has been thrilled with Kurtz’s progression through the season. 

“It’s been exciting to watch Kaitlyn’s development over the course of the season,” Hartinger said. “She had a great freshman year, then obviously we didn’t play last year. She’s really grown this season. She’s played a couple different roles for us. Now she’s landed in the midfield, and I think that’s a great home for her.” 

Hartinger appreciates Kurtz’s two-way abilities. 

“She’s done a fantastic job on both sides of the ball,” Hartinger said. “I think you see she’s super tough defensively. She always finds ways to win the ball. 

“What’s been awesome to watch has been her development on the ball, her runs off the ball and how she’s really been able to connect us and help us switch fields and help create scoring chances.
  
“She’s had a really good second half of the season.” 

Loyola continued to put pressure on in the second half Tuesday but could not find the net again. McGrane, a freshman goalkeeper for the Mighty Macs, finished with 11 saves. 

“It was a little frustrating because we had all our shots and everything, and we just weren’t there to finish,” Kurtz said. “It’s good that we were still able to get those chances, though. I think we can learn from this, and it’ll be something we focus on for our next game.” 

Hartinger was pleased with her team’s second half effort despite the lack of goals.

“We did a good job scoring early, but I think we let up a bit with our intensity later in the first half, so I was a little disappointed with that,” she said. “But I thought we picked it back up in the second half. 

“I think our buildup was great, and we created a lot of really good chances. The message was that all that was fantastic, but we have to find a way to put some of those away. 

“No complaints on our end – it’s hard to complain when you win a game 4-0 this late in the season – but we realize that with all these great chances, we have to start finishing them.” 

The win was Loyola’s 11th-straight shutout, ninth victory in a row and extended the Ramblers’ unbeaten streak to 13 games (11-0-2).

 Ellie Bradley and Clare Sanders each played a half in the net: Bradley made one save; and Sanders two. 

The backline of Sipe, Emily Pikarski, Anne Carretta and Eva Pattison was able to slow down a speedy McAuley team that put together a few threatening-looking counterattacks, but could not get clean shots on goal thanks to the Ramblers defense.  

“I think it’s getting us confidence, especially for our goalie (Bradley), because it’s her first year playing and she’s younger,” Sipe said. “We’re really hardworking and we don’t want to give up any silly goals or anything like that.” 

McAuley’s best scoring chance came with 27 minutes left in the game. Emily Grzyb got a good look off a well-placed corner kick from Xotchil Ramirez, but Grzyb’s header went just wide. 

Ramirez, Angelina Garcia and Bridget Murphy had shots on goal. 

The Mighty Macs stepped up after a disappointing half.

“It’s really good to have a 0-0 half,” senior defender Abigail Grobarcik said. “Going into the second half down, we wanted to play better. We were happy to hold them. 

“I think we did a lot better defensively. We weren’t getting the passes we wanted as much to get our offense going, but I think we were much more controlled and patient.” 

Grobarcik was impressed by McGrane’s play in net. 

“Coming up from JV, she’s really helped us out a lot,” Grobarcik said. “She’s really stepped up. Every single game, she’s getting better and better. She’s really learning. I think there will be big things from her in the next few years and the next few games.” 

McAuley is hopeful playing a tough team like Loyola twice in the final week of the regular season will prepare it for the playoffs. 

The Mighty Macs are seeded ninth in the Class 3A Sandburg Sectional and are set for a regional semifinal at eighth-seeded Bloom on Wednesday. 

“(Tuesday’s) results were a lot better than we expected,” Grobarcik said. “That makes us very hopeful looking to our playoff game with Bloom. They have a lot of good runners up-top, so having a lot of the big girls running at us from Loyola is going to prepare us to be on our best game for that playoff game.”   
 

Starting lineups

Loyola 
GK – Ellie Bradley 
D – Molly Sipe 
D – Emily Pikarski 
D - Anne Carretta 
D - Eva Pattison 
MF - Grace Ehlert 
MF - Kaitlyn Kurtz 
MF - Isabella Guzman 
F - Kathryn Diblik 
F - Kendall Beil 
F - Lauren Couri 
 
Mother McAuley 
GK – Caitlin McGrane 
D - Annemarie Clark 
D - Bridget Murphy 
D - Emily Grzyb 
D - Abigail Grobarcik 
MF - Jane Hynes 
MF - Xotchil Ramirez 
MF - Lauren Gallagher 
MF - Julia McKee 
F - Angelina Garcia 
F - Ciara Hosty 
 
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kaitlyn Kurtz, jr. F, Loyola 
 

Scoring Summary 

First half 
Loyola – Ehlert (Sipe), 3rd minute 
Loyola – Diblik (Kurtz), 15th minute 
Loyola – Kurtz (Diblik), 19th minute 
Loyola – Brooke Semple (Kurtz), 34th minute 

Second half 
No scoring
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