Nov. 8, 2001
Chicago, Ill. - The UIC soccer team begins defense of its Horizon League Tournament title this weekend and first up in its path to a third straight post-season championship is cross-town rival Loyola. UIC hosts the Ramblers on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 1:00 p.m. at Flames Field.
UIC, the tournament's #3 seed behind UW-Milwaukee and Butler, will also be chasing its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. After having to "play-in" to the NCAA Tourney the last two seasons, this year's Horizon League champion will receive an automatic bid to the Big Dance as the field has been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
But the road to the Big Dance certainly isn't going to be easy for UIC. Loyola, the tournament's #6 seed with a 6-9-2 overall record and a 3-4 league mark, will enter Saturday's match on a three-game winning streak, including overtime victories over Valparaiso and IUPU-Fort Wayne.
Senior forward Chris Gradilla has been a sparkplug for the Ramblers as he leads the squad with eight goals and a pair of assists for 18 points while senior midfielder Brian Contreras has tallied four goals and five assists for 13 points.
The Flames, on the other hand, have hardly picked up steam heading into post-season play as they are 1-2 in their last three outings, including a tough 3-2 loss on the road at league champion UW-Milwaukee last Saturday.
But UIC has had Loyola's number recently as it has won six straight against the Ramblers and outscored them 14-6 in the last three outings.
When UIC and Loyola met earlier this year at Flames Field, the Flames rolled to a 6-2 victory behind a three-goal effort from sophomore forward/midfielder Mooch King.
After playing to a 2-2 tie at halftime, UIC exploded for four second-half goals to clinch the victory.
"We are going to have to show up for 90 minutes to win the game Saturday," Head Coach Sasha Begovic said. "We can't allow stupid goals, like we've done quite a bit recently.
"When we played Loyola earlier this season we didn't play to our potential in the first half and we did things to keep them in the game," Begovic continued. "In the second half we picked up our play and won the game 6-2. We can't allow stupid goals - period."
The Flames, who ranked in the NSCAA Top 25 earlier this season and come into Saturday's outing ranked fifth in the NCAA Midwest Regional, have used a balanced offensive attack this season en route to its current 10-5-1 record.
King tops the squad with nine goals and six assists while rookie forward Patrick Grange is right on his heels with nine goals and five assists. Junior forward Jake Stasko has also added five goals and in all, the Flames boast nine multiple-goal scorers.
Offensive production, however, won't be a question mark for the Flames, but goaltending will be. The Flames suffered a big loss last Saturday as starting goaltender Jeff Kusiciel suffered a concussion during UIC's outing with UW-Milwaukee and will be out against Loyola.
But with the solid defensive unit of Jay DeMerit, Joe Morelli and Adam Jones playing in front of him, reserve keeper Casey Pudwill should fill in nicely for Kusiciel.
