Missouri State

CHICAGO – For the second consecutive season, Missouri State boasts the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title as the No. 10 Bears defeated Loyola, 2-0 here Friday inside Loyola Soccer Park.
 
Back-to-back goals courtesy of Aadne Bruseth and Greg Stratton to begin the second half propelled MSU (7-0-0, 6-0-0 MVC) to the program's ninth overall conference regular-season championship and its sixth in the past 10 years. 
 
"It's a huge accomplishment for our team and just shows all the hard work and training we've done to put ourselves in this position," said senior Josh Dolling.  "We will enjoy this and celebrate the honor tonight, but we're hungry for more and have plenty of soccer ahead of us to focus on, starting with Tuesday's match at Evansville."
 
Despite the scoreboard remaining unchanged, the match featured a fair share of action in the first half with the Bears showing off impressive footwork and touch capabilities on their way to keeping the Ramblers defense and goalkeeper Simon Jillson busy with eight shots and five corner kicks in the opening stanza. 
 
Loyola (3-3-2, 2-2-1 MVC) seemed poised to match MSU's high-flying attack in the early going as the Ramblers registered two shots in the first 15 minutes.  Keeper Michael Creek snared the latter attempt after a corner-kick scramble resulted in Loyola's Fabian Becerra firing a quick strike only to be denied by the Bears enforcer.
 
After a scoreless first half of play, Bruseth's goal three minutes following the intermission sprung a Bears attack that was looking to crack the bend-don't-break defense of the Ramblers.  The Norwegian forward, who was coming off a three-assist performance against Drake on March 22, recorded his first goal of the season after collecting a long ball sent forward from the Bears' defensive half by Kyle Hiebert and skipping his shot past a diving Jillson.
 
A few moments later, the Bears increased their lead in the 52nd minute on the lone corner kick of the second period.  Jack Denton's ensuing cross found a leaping Stratton and the league's reigning Defensive Player of the Week struck a header that bounced in to the far net as a surplus goal for MSU.
 
With the game seemingly in hand and carrying a 2-0 lead, the Bears continued to flex their unrelenting defense by limiting the hosts to just one shot in the final 45 minutes en route to MSU's fifth shutout of the season.
 
Nicolo Mulatero led a balanced attack with three shots in the match and he joined his fellow forwards Bruseth, Dolling and Jesus Barea who had five of MSU's seven shots towards goal.
 
"The coaching staff is honored to work with these young men and we are proud to see them have success," said sport director Michael Seabolt.  "Loyola is a tough team and a great representative of our league, any time you can win here is a big accomplishment.  We hope our performances help bring recognition to all of the amazing opportunities Missouri State has to offer both athletically and academically.  Today is a great day for this program and this university and we will continue to work hard to make sure tomorrow is great as well." 
 
Missouri State, who is one of just eight Division I teams to still hold a perfect record, continues the Valley road trip on Tuesday, March 30 with a match against Evansville kicking off at 6 p.m.