Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Valparaiso learned its opponent for the 2011 Horizon League Men’s Soccer Championship semifinal on Tuesday evening, as the Crusaders will face sixth-seeded Loyola at 7 p.m. Friday night on Brown Field.

As the regular season champions, Valparaiso earned a bye through to the semifinals and entered Tuesday knowing it would face the lowest remaining seed following tonight’s quarterfinals.  The suspense ended quickly for Valpo, as the Ramblers, who were the championship’s lowest seed, earned a 1-0 road win at third-seeded Cleveland State.  The Crusaders defeated Loyola in Chicago earlier this year on Oct. 26, 1-0 on a 59^th minute goal from Charles Barden.

On the other side of the bracket, fourth-seeded Green Bay won a 2-1 decision over fifth-seeded UIC to advance to take on second-seeded Wright State on 4 p.m. Friday afternoon, also at Brown Field.  The championship title game will be played Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.  All three remaining games of the 2011 Horizon League Men’s Soccer Championship will be streamed live via the Horizon League Network, with links for the live video and live stats available at www.valpoathletics.com.