Soccer Slips at Loyola Chicago, 1-0

Wednesday, August 12

Chicago, Ill. / Loyola Soccer Park

8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

Central Michigan University

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Loyola Chicago

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Central Mich.	0	0	0
Loyola Chicago	1	0	1

Photo by: Kailey Hill '26 - @rahsignz

8/12/2026 10:55:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Full Game Book (PDF)

Backfield turnover in the eighth minute leads to margin; Chippewas brought heavy second-half pressure

By: Harrison LaLone

CHICAGO — Central Michigan Soccer opened the 2026 campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Loyola Chicago Wednesday night on the NCAA's national opening day.

The Chippewas will get a week before returning to the road for the program's debut pair in South Carolina at Charleston Southern (Aug. 20, 3 p.m.) and at Coastal Carolina (Aug. 23, 1 p.m.).

CMU had three on-target attempts to Loyola's five (10-8 LUC in overall attempts), two from the foot of junior Ella Betzold (Essexville, Mich. / Garber) who played over 60 minutes from the bench.

"The only thing missing tonight was connecting a final pass, creating the opportunity," Head Coach James DeCosemo said following his CMU debut. "To be fair, Loyola defended really, really well."

Around the 59' of the match, Central Michigan held court in the forward third for a confident span of over two minutes, but was kept one pass away from a strike throughout the effort.

"In that moment we were able to pin them in, win the ball back, move the ball, win it back and try again—that was awesome."

In all, there were positives to take home from DeCosemo's first regular-season match patrolling the sideline for the Maroon & Gold—eight months after his hire was announced.

"We finally got to play a real game and that the performance was positive too. I feel privileged, blessed, that I get to coach at CMU and I'm excited for more."

The Chippewas played a strong match outside of a single, yet critical, error in the opening minutes as the Ramblers recovered a loose ball on CMU's own 18' for a quick-change one-on-one with senior keeper Jadia Kershaw (Lewis Center, Ohio / Oletangy Orange); Kershaw finished with four saves.

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