ROCHESTER, Mich. – The UIC men's soccer team (7-7-3, 5-3-1 HL) could not turn away the scoring attack of Oakland (6-10-0, 5-4-0 HL) as it dropped a 5-2 decision at the OU Soccer Field in its final game of the regular season Friday night.
 
The results of the night's games allowed the Flames to secure the No. 2 seed for the Horizon League Tournament and a first-round bye. Their first match will be in the semifinals Thursday (Nov. 10) at 3 p.m. CT against the highest remaining seed out of the quarterfinals, which features Milwaukee (No. 3), Oakland (No. 4), Green Bay (No. 5) and Valparaiso (No. 6).
 
Max Todd produced a three-point performance as he scored the first goal for UIC and then added the assist on the second goal scored by Mike Jimenez.
 
The Flames dominated the shot battle but could not convert on their efforts as they put up 19 shots to the Golden Grizzlies' eight, which Andrew Putna did not need to make a save on. Oscar Gonzalez led the team with four attempts as Todd, Jimenez, Oscar Rivero and Jose Fuentes each had three. Just five attempts reached on goal from Gonzalez, Rivero and Abel Guzman in addition to the goal scorers.
 
On its second shot of the game in just the fourth minute, Oakland took the 1-0 lead as Chase Jabbori broke down the field and found Alex Serwatka in the box to shoot the ball into the empty net. UIC came back and took five shots within the next 10 minutes but only had one on goal from Gonzalez.
 
A great look came for the Flames in the 19th minute when a long service allowed Rivero to get off a header that forced the keeper to make the save. Gonzalez followed with a shot sent wide before either team went without an attempt until the 32nd minute, when Jabbori scored on breakaway to make it 2-0.
 
UIC had the only chances the rest of the half with two chances blocked for Gonzalez and Garcia, a near miss for Rivero that hit off the post and another sent high by Fuentes.
 
The Golden Grizzlies came out from halftime to expand their lead to 3-0 as Serwatka scored for the second time on a breakaway. The Flames then came up with three shots and had one attempt result in a save from Guzman.
 
UIC's persistence paid off when Todd scored his eighth goal of the season from 35 yards out in the 58th minute and then came back two minutes later with a corner kick that connected with the head of Jimenez for his second tally of the season.
 
Another pair of corner kicks and then two shots sent off the mark came next before Oakland was allotted its second shot of the half on a look that was blocked.
 
With five minutes remaining, the Golden Grizzlies scored twice to lock in the win as Nebojsa Popovic scored off a free kick from 25 yards out and then Austin Ricci closed it out with 50 seconds to go when he scored on the third breakaway of the game.