April 21, 2011

CHICAGO - The UIC men's soccer team fell short in 1-0 decisions versus both DePaul and Northwestern in the annual Chicago Cup at the Loyola Soccer Complex last Saturday.

In the first game of the day, against the Blue Demons, UIC dominated possession and chances, but an inability to capitalize on the chances kept the game scoreless through the opening 45 minutes. DePaul took advantage of a defensive miscue at the start of the second half and claimed a 1-0 lead that held up for the final score.

"Our movement on and off the ball was the best to date this spring" said Assistant Coach Aleksey Korol, standing in for Head Coach Sean Phillips, who was with his wife as she gave birth to their second son on Saturday. "Unfortunately, we could not make that final play."

In the third place game against Northwestern, UIC lost on a free kick from just outside of 25 yards in the first half. The second period saw UIC increase the pressure and create some very good chances of their own from restarts.

"The first period against Northwestern we were extremely flat and gave up a few restarts, on one of which they capitalized," said Korol. "It was nice to see our attack create restarts which was something we have not seen. With the number of players we have who are talented with restarts, this is was a positive. Ivan Stanisavljevic showed some of the free kick ability that makes him a dangerous player.

"On the day, we felt our possession and attacking continues to improve, especially our attacking restarts. Some of our younger players, especially Peter Hanula, Piotr Kikolski and Zach Kaleta continue to impress with their improvement."