CHICAGO – The UIC men's soccer team (4-5-1, 3-1-0 HL) turned out its third-straight win and second-consecutive shutout Saturday night as it used four goals scored by Gonzalo Romo, Jose Fuentes, Kyle Hamann and Max Todd to take a 4-0 victory over Northern Kentucky (0-9-2, 0-4-0 HL) at Flames Field, where the team is now 3-2-0 this season.
 
The Flames came up with 28 shots in the match, marking the highest total since taking 35 against Wright State in 2006. Additionally, their 15 shots on goal were the most taken since acquiring 16 versus Belmont in 2014.
 
"It's nice to get our third win in the Horizon League," said head coach Sean Phillips. "That win will help us keep pace with our immediate goal, which is to contend for the Horizon League regular season championship. It was good for us to get a few goals in front of our fans that have stuck with us as we have gotten things going, but most importantly, we were able to get the shutout.
 
Todd (6S, 4SOG) and Fuentes (5S, 4SOG) each notched career highs in shots and shots on goal, as they each posted three points. The pair made up more than half of the team's attempts on target, with Hamann (2), Nestor Garcia (2), Romo, Mike Jimenez and Abel Guzman collecting the remaining seven.
 
Andrew Putna was faced with a mere seven shots in the match, marking the fourth time this season he saw less than 10 shots. He made two saves on the night as he garnered his third shutout of the season to maintain a perfect 0.00 goals-against-average in League play.
 
"We're starting to see some upperclassmen step up with Romo and Kyle scoring goals, Jose continuing to find form and Max picking up points for us. I think our back four are starting to get comfortable with each other and continue to show progress, with our two freshmen and sophomore on the back line, and Andrew kept another clean sheet for us, which is what he has done most of his career for us."
 
The Flames got off a pair of quick shots in the opening two minutes with Fuentes' attempt being stopped and Todd hitting the crossbar off a free kick. UIC then spent a period of four minutes firing off six shots, with Jimenez, Garcia and Fuentes having their attempts saved.
 
Five more shots for the Flames took them into the 36th minute, when Oscar Gonzalez took the ball down the right side before finding Romo breaking into the box to bury his first goal of the season. Two more shots came for UIC in the half, with one on goal from Guzman.
 
The Flames continued to dominate into the second half, getting four quality looks in the opening 10 minutes. In the 58th minute, UIC was allotted a pair of corner kicks, with the second allowing Dimitiris Strantzalis a chance that was blocked but the ball found the foot of Fuentes who sent it in for his fourth goal of the season and third in the last three games.
 
After Garcia had a shot saved, Todd was positioned with another of the Flames' 10 corner kicks in the game in the 68th minute that connected with the head of Hamann to knock in his first collegiate goal.
 
One minute later after having a shot saved off a free kick, Todd ripped off a shot from 40 yards out off a pass from Fuentes that hooked into the back of the net for his fourth tally of the season and to record a career-high three points. UIC had two more shots in the match with the Norse additionally getting two of their three attempts in the half in the final minutes.
 
The Flames will break from Horizon League play as they make the short trip to Northern Illinois on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff at the NIU Soccer Complex.