Box Score (in pdf)
In Detroit's Horizon League opener, freshman Sam Seppo (Port Huron, MI/Port Huron) scored the game-winning goal to help the Titans (2-5-0, 1-0-0) pull off a 2-1 upset over No. 30 Loyola (4-2-1, 0-1-0) Friday evening at the Loyola Soccer Park in Chicago, IL.
UDM junior goalkeeper Bryan Kloss (Fraser, MI/Bishop Foley Catholic) took a goal kick in the 62nd minute and Seppo was there to receive the ball. He was able to beat the Loyola defenders as the keeper and his own teammate collided, so Seppo took a shot from about 18 yards out and watched it go past the goal line for his second goal of the season.
"We came into this game confident that we were going to come out on the winning end and we prevailed," said Detroit head coach Morris Lupenec. "We worked extremely hard and busted our tail today and I am extremely proud of our players efforts against Loyola."
With four seconds remaining in the first half, the clock was stopped to set up a free kick for the Titans. Sophomore #Ken Simon# (Brighton, MI/Brighton) took the kick from about 20 yards out and watched the ball sail past the defenders and go into the center of the net to give Detroit a 1-0 advantage at the half.
Loyola's lone goal came at the 77:36 mark as junior Eric Gehrig took a penalty kick and put it into the left side of the net.
Kloss tallied a career-high 11 saves against the Ramblers and allowed only one goal in 90 minutes of play. Loyola's senior netminder Brian Byrne played the entire match and allowed two goals and had no saves on the night.
"We are finally coming together as a team and it showed tonight as we were able to beat a nationally ranked squad," commented Kloss.
The Ramblers outshot the Titans, 20-7, and Loyola also had a 6-2 advantage on corner kicks. Each team tallied 20 fouls and six yellow cards were handed out in the 90 minutes of action.
Detroit now owns a 14-9-1 advantage in the overall series against the Ramblers and the last time the Titans beat Loyola was on Oct. 21, 2005 by a score of 1-0 in Detroit. Three years earlier marks when the Titans last defeated the Ramblers in Chicago as Detroit won by an overtime score of 2-1 on Oct. 27, 2002.
The Titans will next face No. 10 UIC (6-0-2, 1-0-0) in Chicago on Sept. 28 at 5 p.m. EST.
-Detroit Titans-
