CHICAGO – The UIC men's soccer team (1-4-1) put up a strong defensive front in the first half despite being down a man, but could not hold off DePaul (4-1-2) in the final 45 as it suffered a 4-0 loss Wednesday afternoon at Wish Field.
 
The Flames were held to seven shots in the match but put five on goal from Jose Fuentes (2), Dimitris Silvestridis, Max Todd and Ricky Pimentel. The Blue Demons recorded an opponent season-high 20 shots in the game and forced five additional shots on goal aside from their tallies.
 
Andrew Putna started the match and played just 13 minutes before he was sent off the field with a red card. Sokratis Vasilas entered to play his first collegiate minutes and made five saves on the day.
 
UIC was able to draw a pair of quality chances within the seventh minute as Fuentes took a shot that was stopped and Silvestridis followed it up with an attempt of his own the was saved following a corner kick.
 
In just the 13th minute, DePaul made a break at the net, drawing Putna out of the box to make a play on the ball, receiving a red card and forcing UIC to play a man down the rest of the way. With Vasilas in, the Blue Demons were set up with a free kick right outside the 18, but the Flames defensive wall blocked the serve.
 
After Mike Jimenez sailed a shot high in the 19th minute, Todd came back two minutes later and got his foot on a ball that forced DePaul's Quentin Low to make a diving save. Vasilas made his first save of the game in the 18th minute but then came up with two big stops off header attempts in the 23rd and 30th minutes.
 
DePaul's attack was persistent despite UIC's strong sstance, firing off four attempts the rest of the half, all off target, while the Flames were allotted one opportunity from Oscar Gonzalez that went high.
 
A mere 92 seconds into the second half, the Blue Demons converted as Max de Bruijne and Caleb Pothast connected with Simon Megally to take the 1-0 lead.
 
Fuentes registered a shot on goal two minutes later before DePaul fired off three consecutive shots with Vasilas making one stop.
 
In the 65th minute, de Bruijne served the ball in from midfield and connected with the foot of Philipp Koenigstein, who tapped the ball into the low right corner of the net. The next shot of the game came in the 76th minute and was put in the back of the net by Jake Scheper with the assists from Hans Wustling and Koenigstein.
 
Following a chance sent wide and saved for the Blue Demons, Megally got his second goal of the game in the 78th minute as he ripped a shot from just outside the 18 on the left side after receiving a feed from Wustling.
 
With less than five minutes remaining, the Flames were credited with just their second shot of the half when Pimentel took it in and had his attempt saved.
 
The Flames will resume Horizon League play on Friday in Dayton, Ohio, with a 6 p.m. CT kickoff against Wright State.