Sept. 17, 2000
Box Score
Chicago, Ill. - It didn't come easy, but the UIC soccer team picked up its 19th straight home victory Sunday afternoon against Cal Poly, 3-2. The Flames, who haven't lost at home since the 1997 season, also won their fourth straight of the year to improve to 4-1-1 as they prepare for a battle with local rival, Northern Illinois, on Wednesday in DeKalb at 5:00 p.m.
This afternoon, after dominating the play and outshooting the Mustangs in the first half, 13-2, the Flames were scratching their heads as they found themselves tied at the half, 1-1, despite controlling the ball for much of the half.
Jakob Stasko, who was set up by Ranko Tutulugdzija, scored UIC's first goal of the game just 11 minutes into the contest as he fired in a shot past Cal Poly goalkeeper Brenton Junge from 18 yards out. The Mustangs' Brian Rogers, however, knotted the game at 1-1 as he laced a header past UIC goalie Chris Jamal with less than eight minutes left in the first half.
The Flames, who were outfouled by the Mustangs, 18-6, in the physical battle, then took advantage of a Cal Poly red card as Eric Lukin did a little shake and bake move to fake out Junge and chip in his fourth goal of the season in the 63rd minute to put UIC ahead 2-1.
Rookie Dennis King came back less than six minutes later to score his second goal in as many games as Tutulugdzija and Stasko set him up eight yards out with a shot that scooted under a diving Junge for a 3-1 Flames' lead.
King's goal proved to a be a big one as Cal Poly, despite being a player down from the earlier red card, kept plugging away. In the 78th minute the Mustangs made things interesting once again as Barrymore Matthews' shot from 25 yards straight out deflected off of UIC defenseman Jeff Zych and into the net for a 3-2 UIC lead.
The Flames, however, held their composure and managed to hold off the fiesty Mustangs in the final minutes to pick up the win. Freshman Scott Greene, who played the final 36:22 of the game and made a couple of key saves, picked up his second career victory and with the outing lowered his goals against average to 1.24.
