CHICAGO – The UIC women's soccer team (5-8-2, 3-3-0 HL) was unable to respond to four goals scored in the first half by Northern Kentucky (9-5-0, 5-1-0 HL) Saturday night as it dropped a 4-0 decision at Flames Field.
 
The Flames were kept to nine shots in the game and had six come in the second half. Tamae Douglas and Naomi Rushe led the squad with three attempts each, as they each put a shot on goal along with Rebeca Pallo and Cecilia Magos.
 
Kelly Fritz played the complete game as she came up with three saves while faced with the Norse's 14 shots and seven on goal.
 
Eight minutes into the game, NKU's Ally Perkins sent the ball to Jessica Frey to take a shot that forced Fritz to make a save, but Macy Hamblin found the rebound to send the ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
 
While the Flames had the next two shots sent just wide from Douglas, Hamblin made it 2-0 for the Norse in the 25th minute as she collected the ball from Perkins in the box and shot it in from six yards out.
 
The next shot of the game came in the 36th minute and went into the back of the net for NKU with Frey taking the ball in and shooting it into the opposite side of the net after receiving the ball from Hamblin.
 
Three shots later, the Norse took the 4-0 advantage when Shawna Zaken took the ball from Kayte Osterfeld and had a turnaround shot that went into the lower right side of the net.
 
UIC came out in the second half on the attack and had its first looks on goal of the game. Douglas first tried a header four minutes in that was stopped and then Rushe had a chance saved eight minutes later, with the Norse having two off target chances in between.
 
Rushe had two more attempts in the next 10 minutes but both were shot high, while Pallo followed with a look that was saved. NKU had the next four shots with Fritz making one save before Magos put up a strike that was stopped in the 84th minute, which would be the last chance of the game.
 
The Flames are back at Flames Field on Wednesday when they host Valparaiso at 7 p.m. CT.