CHICAGO, Ill. - Before the Green Bay (13-2-2, 6-2-0) men's soccer team even took the field against Loyola (4-8-4, 1-5-2) Saturday night, they already knew they were guaranteed a first round bye in the Horizon League tournament next week.
Nonetheless, Green Bay posted their eighth shutout of the season with a 3-0 win over the Ramblers to close the 2009 regular season. With the shutout, freshman goal keeper Ryan Wehking (St. Louis, Mo.) finishes second on the individual season shutout record list, "Ryan was huge tonight, and that's a great sign to have a hot goal keeper heading into the post-season," said head coach Tom Poitras.
The Phoenix finishes the regular season posting three consecutive shutouts which hasn't happened since 1983. "We're really coming together defensively at the right time; now we just have to keep that momentum," said Poitras.
Green Bay's first goal came 17 minutes into the action on a give-and-go from JC Banks (Brookfield, Wis.) to Scott Raymonds (Brookfield, Wis.), who scored his third goal of the season.
Nearly 13 minutes later it was Banks who put the ball in the right corner of the net from eight yards out to score his 13th goal of the season, giving the Phoenix the 2-0 lead at the break.
The Phoenix finished the first half with five shots and one corner kick.
Less than four minutes into the second half, Loyola goalie Christian Krueger tried to clear the ball but Green Bay's AJ Konchar (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) put it in from inside the box to secure the 3-0 victory.
The Phoenix finishes the regular season with a 13-2-2 overall record and 6-2-0 in conference play--its best finish in three seasons.
Butler clinched the No. 1 seed with its 3-1 win over Wright State and will host the semifinals and final round of the conference tournament on Nov. 13. Green Bay will play the first semifinal game on Nov. 13 at 11:00 a.m. against the highest remaining seed from Tuesday's first round.
"It's great that we earned a first round bye because it gives us a chance to rest and prepare for the second part of our season," said Poitras.
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