Sept. 30, 2005
Chicago, Ill.- The halfway point of the 2005 season is already upon the UIC soccer team, marked by the Flames' home match with Centenary this Sunday at Flames Field beginning at noon.
At the midway point of the season, UIC Soccer finds itself at 3-3-1. The preseason began brightly with a solid 4-0 win against IUPUI, followed by an impressive 2-1 loss at two-time defending national champion Indiana. Sophomore midfielder Pavle Dundjer knocked in three goals and dished out an assist for a team-best seven points during exhibition play.
Regular season play opened with UIC at the UC Irvine Classic. On Sept. 3rd the Flames beat the then-24th ranked team in the nation in Loyola Marymount, downing the Lions by a 2-0 tally. UIC then tied the host Anteaters in a scoreless draw on Septembers 5th. UIC placed four players on the UC Irvine College Classic All-Tournament Team, with Dudnjer, goalkeeper Jeff Engelbrecht, and forwards Tonci Skroce and Cesar Zambrano making the all-tourney squad. Following a road win at UMKC, the Flames returned home with a win in their home opener against in-state rival Eastern Illinois.
Youthful inexperience cast a shadow upon the early season success as the Flames dropped their next three games against Horizon League rivals Loyola and Detroit and NCAA Tournament team and Big Ten finalist Northwestern.
UIC Head Coach John Trask talked about the positive start being followed by three losses.
"With such a young team and the type of challenging schedule we have, the staff knew that we would face adversity during the season," said Trask. "The positive is that in each of the three losses, we played some excellent soccer and created some outstanding chances. As this team matures we must learn how to finish off opponents and not make the silly mistakes which cost you games."
UIC Soccer begins the second half of the season with a clinic and training session on Friday for the participants in Chicago SCORES at Douglas Park, located in 1401 S. Sacramento Avenue. Chicago SCORES is the Chicago chapter of America SCORES, which is an afterschool reading, writing and soccer program dedicated to inner city children.
The Flames begin the second half of the game schedule this Sunday as the Centenary Gents come to town for a noon kickoff. This is the first-ever meeting between the Flames and Gents, who are members of the Mid-Continent Conference.
A quick turnaround is in store for the Flames as the team will board a plane Wednesday morning for a mid-week game at national title contender Creighton. The 19th-ranked Bluejays are the third of five 2004 NCAA tournament teams on the Flames' 2005 schedule.
UIC resumes Horizon League play Sunday, October 9th at Cleveland State. Remaining home matches include Butler on October 16th and Wright State on October 30th.
Tickets to all home matches are available at the gate and are $5 for general admission seating. Tickets for children ages 12 and under and senior citizens 65 and older are $3.
UIC home soccer matches are also covered through the UIC All-Sport Ticket, which provides four general admission tickets to all regular season home events for soccer, volleyball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and gymnastics events at UIC.
Groups of 10 or more can purchase group tickets at a discounted rate of $2 per ticket. Group tickets can only be purchased in advance by calling the UIC Ticket Office at (312) 413-8421.
