Sept. 2, 2010
CHICAGO- A new season begins this Friday, Sept. 3 for the UIC men's soccer team, as the Flames host Florida International University in the 2010 opener at Flames Field.
Kickoff is slated for 8:30 p.m. The match between the Flames and the Golden Panthers takes place right after a 6:30 p.m. contest between DePaul and Western Illinois at Flames Field.
Flames Field is located just south of the Physical Education Building at 901 W. Roosevelt Road on UIC's South Campus.
Click here for parking information, and click here for ticket information.
The Flames have a familiar face leading the program. Sean Phillips begins his first year as UIC head coach, but it will be his sixth straight season with the team after serving as the Flames' top assistant since 2005.
Phillips knows that a new coaching staff and a slew of young players make for many unknowns heading into the campaign, but there are plenty of pieces in place that are cause for excitement.
"This is an exciting time for a new coaching staff and for a lot of returning players who didn't have as a big a role last year as they hoped for," said Phillips, one of the men responsible for leading UIC to unprecedented national success from 2006 through 2008. "We have the talent to go with the three goals: win the Horizon League regular season, win the league tournament championship, and do enough in a challenging non-conference schedule to set ourselves up for an NCAA tournament run."
Phillips knows it won't be easy, especially after the graduation of one of the greatest players in UIC history, goalkeeper and Hermann Trophy candidate Jovan Bubonja.
"However, this season has to be tempered because we're replacing a three-time All-American in goal," said Phillips. "There will be a new back four. We're looking to three sophomores to carry the midfield. Three talented sophomores, but they are still three sophomores.
"We have three proven, tested players in the lineup in Robert Younger, who is coming off of an injury; Eric Frazier, a transfer who didn't play much last year due to injury; and Derek Huffman, who was a pleasant surprise from last year. The challenge will be getting a new coaching staff and a new group of players to take full advantage of our potential over the course of the year.
"This will be one of those `it's not how you start, it's how you finish' types of years," Phillips said. "There will be bumps in the road, and the challenge will be how resilient we are as we build towards that moment when everything starts to click."
The Flames started that building process in the preseason, with a pair of games decided by a goal and featuring promising late surges from the UIC side that Phillips hopes to have occur earlier and more frequently in the regular season.
"The game against Notre Dame showed that we can compete against an NCAA tournament-tested program," said Phillips. "Once the players got over some anxiety legs, we competed until our lack of fitness showed.
"Against DePaul, we played brilliantly in the last 15 minutes," Phillips said. "The two preseason games identified that we have lot to look forward to, but there still remains a lot of work to do in order to get to that point."
Helping the Flames get to that point will be Younger and returnees who will be relied on to play bigger roles.
"We're looking forward to a healthy and fit Robert Younger to lead this group of players," said Phillips. "It will be very important for Derek Huffman to continue his development as player on and off the field, and we are very excited for Steve Purdy to get an opportunity. He proved during the preseason that he can have a very successful senior season after waiting behind Jovan for two years.
"Eric Frazier is starting to show why he was an All-Newcomer Team pick in 2008, and the core of our three sophomore midfielders in Josh Beard, Ivan Stanisavljevic, and Joe Radice have an opportunity to make a very large impact during a very early time in their careers."
Phillips said that one of the biggest challenges for the coaching staff will be finding out how to get the Flames' young, talented pieces in the right places, stating that fans will see players in different places across the field as the season goes on.
A new staff and a roster infused with youth and talent brings potential to get the Flames back to the glory they achieved just a short time ago.
"A young, talented staff plus young, talented players equates to quite a bit of energy within the program," said Phillips. "That makes me believe that as the season goes on, if the players stick together and ride through the rough patches, all three of the goals we set forth can be achieved."
