Friday, Aug. 26
UIC vs. San Diego State - 5:30 p.m. CT - Live Stats | Video Stream

Sunday, Aug. 28
UIC at Gonzaga - 5:30 p.m. CT - Live Stats | Video Stream

CHICAGO – The UIC men's soccer team will head to the West Coast to open its 2016 regular season this weekend at the Gonzaga Tournament at Luger Field in Spokane, Wash. The Flames will first be faced with San Diego State Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT before going up against host Gonzaga Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
 
UIC turned out a 0-1-1 record during the preseason after it was faced with IUPUI (Aug. 16) and Loyola (Aug. 20). The Flames took a 0-0 draw against the Jaguars before dropping a 3-1 decision to the Ramblers. Abel Guzman scored the lone goal with Sasha Simon adding the assist.
 
Through the two matches, UIC collected 28 shots, outshooting its opponents 18-11 and 10-5, respectively. Max Todd led all players with seven attempts, followed by Oscar Gonzalez with five. Andrew Putna earned the start in both games and made a total of three saves, as he shared the shutout against IUPUI with Sokratis Vasilas, who made two saves in 45 minutes of action.
 
In 2016, the Flames will be working with a roster of 23 as they bring back 13 letterwinners, featuring seven starters, and add 10 newcomers to the group of five seniors, four juniors, six sophomores and eight freshmen. Notably returning for UIC is Putna, Kyle Hamann, Gonzalo Romo, Jose Fuentes, Nestor Garcia, Mike Jimenez and Max Todd, who have all earned Horizon League postseason distinctions during their careers.
 
The Flames are coming off a 9-6-3 2015 campaign which saw the team capture its second Horizon League regular season championship over the past three seasons with a 6-1-2 conference record, marking the program's sixth-best winning percentage of .778. The team turned out 24 goals, 25 assists, 270 shots, 107 shots on goal and a 0.90 goals-against-average.
 
San Diego State enters into its regular season following a pair of exhibition matches against Santa Clara and Cal State Northridge which presented a 3-2 win over the Broncos and a 0-0 (2OT) tie with the Matadors. The Aztecs return 16 letterwinners and seven starters from 2015, when they went 8-8-3 and 2-7-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
 
Friday's matchup will be the first ever meeting between UIC and San Diego State.
 
Gonzaga will play its first match of the season Friday when it hosts Bradley to open the tournament. The Bulldogs return 19, including eight starters, from the 2015 season that resulted in a 7-10-1 overall record and 2-5-0 output in the West Coast Conference.
 
In the all-time series, the Flames are 2-1-0 against the Bulldogs, while Sunday's game will be the first ever played in Spokane. The two teams last met in 2013 at Flames Field, when UIC picked up a 1-0 win over then-ranked No. 19 Gonzaga.