Sept. 22, 2007

Box Score

Miami. Fla.- Two unanswered goals off the boot of freshman midfielder Charlie Trout allowed the UIC men's soccer team to salvage a 2-2 tie in a wet and wild affair against Florida International at University Park early Saturday.

In a match that was delayed nearly three hours by thunderstorms and lightning and had another delay occur in the 54th minute due to a power outage at the pitch, the Flames (2-1-2) fell behind early on a pair of strikes by Juan Guerra in the first 12 minutes of the contest.

Guerra hit the net for the first time in the 6th minute on an unassisted run. Six minutes later the FIU striker took a ball from Levi Coleman and slipped an attempt past UIC keeper Jovan Bubonja to dig the Flames into a 2-0 hole.

Trout cut the deficit in half in the 31st minute, doing all the work himself on a nifty run to create a scoring chance that he took advantage of by blasting a ball from long range past FIU keeper Michael Anderson.

The second period began with a red card issued to Baggio Husidic just 26 seconds into the half, forcing UIC to play a man down the rest of the way. Despite the adversity the Flames managed to even the match just a minute later, as Trout took possession of a feed from Pawel Ligas and pushed a strike into the net for the equalizer.

Eight minutes after Trout's second goal the electricity in the stadium was lost, forcing a delay.

The game would head to a pair of overtime sessions, but neither team could muster the same offensive results displayed in the early going. Dan Simek nearly continued his early trend of scoring clutch late goals with a nice attempt in the 96th minute, but Anderson made a nice stop of the shot to keep the score even.

"This was the strangest game I have ever witnessed in college soccer," said UIC head coach John Trask. "A three-hour weather delay, the lights go out for 10 minutes in the middle of the second half, and it was one of the most poorly officiated games I have ever been a part of.

"A ridiculous red card," Trask said regarding the ejection of the younger Husidic. "The second year in a row here in Miami that has happened, and even though we were down 2-1 and down to 10 men we battled back to tie and then completely outplayed them."

Trask appluaded the effort of Trout.

"It was great to see Charlie score two goals," said Trask. "He was outstanding."

With weather, delays and other factors serving as barriers and the Flames still coming away with a tie against the odds, Trask sees this match and other road contests as something that will bring the team together.

"The reason we take these games is the adversity that we'll face," said Trask. "The adversity is what will forge the bond of the 2007 team.

"People can say what they want," said Trask. "We have one loss after playing in very tough environments like Rutgers, Akron and Florida International. The bottom line is that we still have a positive record, while other teams find a way to lose these types of games."

UIC outshot Florida International by eight attempts, 15-7, including nine against target. Though they trailed in the first frame, the Flames had a wide 10-2 shot advantage in the first 45 minutes.

With the wet field conditions providing for tackle-much slipping and sliding during play, the two teams combined for 48 fouls and four yellow cards on the pitch.

The match began at around 10:30 p.m. Eastern and ended at 1:00 a.m. ET.

UIC concludes the Florida portion of its road trek on Sunday afternoon at Florida Gulf Coast.