Oct. 18, 2014 Box Score

Box Score

CHICAGO - The UIC men's soccer team (6-5-2, 2-2-1 HL) netted the first goal of the match in the 59th minute, but Milwaukee (5-8-2, 2-3-1 HL) collected two goals in the following 14 minutes to come away with a 2-1 win. Freshman Jose Fuentes scored his fifth goal of the season and third over the last two games.

"We knew tonight was going to be a tough one and a good college soccer game," said head coach Sean Phillips. "Milwaukee is not only a big rival and conference opponent, but a talented team that is getting back to health. The result was going to come down to who makes the big plays. To their credit, Milwaukee made two big-time plays and kept us to one."

"I need to find a way to get this group of talented players we have to play with a bit more consistency and guile. At times tonight, we were very good, but not over enough moments in the game. We still have quite a bit to play within the conference, but our margin for error to achieve our goal is much smaller after this evening."

The Flames held a 17-13 shot advantage in the match, marking the eighth time this season UIC has outshot its opponents. Seven of the Flames' 17 shots reached on goal and the Panthers had 10 of their shots on net, causing sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Putna to match his career high with seven saves.

After the first 45 minutes of play, UIC had taken nine shots against Milwaukee's six. The Flames were able to get off three headers, with two being saved by the Panthers' keeper Liam Anderson, from junior Manny Chavez and sophomore Kyle Hamann on three separate corner kicks. Senior Jesus Torres additionally had three shot attempts, but all came off target.

UIC came out striking in the second half, recording four-consecutive shots over the course of five minutes, with two attempts taken by Torres resulting in saves. In the 59th minute, Fuentes fired off a shot from the top of the box to score his fifth goal of the season for the 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later in the 61st minute, a scramble in front of the Flames' net allowed three shots from Milwaukee to be taken, with Putna making the initial save and the team coming up with the second before the third was headed in by Declan Rodriguez to tie the game at 1-1.

The Panthers were awarded with a corner kick in the 73rd minute. Aaron Horvat sent the ball in and Rodriguez connected for his second goal of the game and the eventual game-winner.

The Flames were limited to one shot the rest of the match, which was taken by Torres, who led the team with seven shots on the night.

After allowing two goals, Putna's goals-against average moved to 0.94. With his seven saves, he now has 56 on the season with a .812 save percentage.

Next up for the Flames is their final non-conference contest of the season as they make the short trip up to Loyola on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. CT matchup at Loyola Soccer Park. It will be the first time the two teams have met since 2012, when the Ramblers were a member of the Horizon League.