Nov. 19, 2000
Box Score
Peoria, Ill. - University of Illinois at Chicago freshman defender Pablo Melgar(Glendale Heights, Ill./Itecori Bilingual) connected on a free kick at the 84-minute mark to help the Flames to a 1-0 victory over Bradley in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer tournament at Chiefs Club Field on Sunday.
"This is really special," Melgar said of the victory. "This means a lot for us and the program."
The win marks the furthest that UIC (18-3-2) has advanced into the postseason in the 20-year history of the program. The Flames will move on to the "Sweet 16" and will travel to California to take on No. 3 seed Stanford this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
"This was just unbelievable," UIC head coach Sasha Begovic said. "The whole stadium was packed. It was just an outstanding atmosphere and the guys played a superb game."
Defense was the name of the game for the Flames as Bradley reeled off 23 shots (11 on goal) including 16 in the second half. Senior goalkeeper Chris Jamal (Palatine, Ill./Palatine H.S.), who has not allowed a goal in his last 420 minutes of action, posted his fifth shutout of the season while stopping seven shots.
"Chris made some very good saves, some very nice ones," Begovic said. "It's what we expect of him and more."
Jamal also reaped the benefits from four team saves from teammates Greg Chrisman (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) and Joe Morelli (Holly, Mich./Brother Rice). Chrisman recorded three team saves while Morelli added one.
Begovic lauded the efforts of defender Jay DeMerit (Green Bay, Wis./Bayport H.S.). DeMerit was matched up most of the day against Bradley's second leading scorer Bryan Namoff and held him to four shots. The Braves were without two-time All-American Gavin Glinton, who sat out the contest with a hamstring injury.
