CHICAGO – On a night that honored its seniors, UIC (7-12-0, 5-4-0 HL) had two members of its graduating class combine to give the Flames a 1-0 win against Oakland (4-13-1, 3-6-0 HL) Friday night at Flames Field to advance to the Horizon League Championship for the first time in program history. Paige Proctor scored her first career goal while Christina Hovatter added the helper.
 
The win marked a program-record seven on the year while the five conference victories also set a program best. With its 5-4-0 Horizon League record, UIC locked in the No. 5 seed for the conference tournament and will face No. 4 Wright State on Monday at 6 p.m. CT.
 
Match Highlights

• Senior Connection: In the 23rd minute of play, two of the night's honorees came up big for the Flames to secure a 1-0 lead. A foul along the right side outside the 18 set Hovatter up with a free kick. She sent the ball in and had it connect with Proctor to put it in from eight yards out.
• DiCanio To the Rescue: With the Golden Grizzlies only taking one shot in the first half, it came off a corner kick and was a hard shot that forced DiCanio to leap and deflect it out.
• Cedeno Gets Denied: After UIC took four shots out of halftime, Janai Cedeno came up with what looked to be the best chance in the 67th minute when she shot the ball but had it kicked out of the goal by a Golden Grizzlies' defender.
• Fritz Makes Second-Half Stop: Entering the match at halftime, Fritz was needed to make a lone save in the final 45 as she grabbed an attempt from Vanessa Ogbonna with five minutes to play.
• Defense Shows Up: While UIC was working on offense, the defense kept stepping up to the plate and breaking up the run for Oakland as the Golden Grizzlies were held to a mere three shots in the match, a Flames' program record for fewest shots allowed to a conference opponent.

 
Facts and Figures

• The Flames secured their fifth shutout of the season and third in conference play while it was their first ever win over Oakland.
• DiCanio and Fritz shared the shutout while each playing 45 minutes as DiCanio was credited with her sixth win of the season and fourth in conference.
• UIC totaled 13 shots in the match and put seven of those looks on goal. Rebeca Pallo led the team in total attempts with four and put two on goal while Bekah Allen, Emily Valentine, Keri Birkenhead and Cedeno also reached target along with Proctor.
• In lieu of her first career goal, Proctor also notched the game-winner for the first time while Hovatter's assist came as the second of her career.

 
Up Next

• The Flames hit the road to begin their run in the Horizon League Championship. Quarterfinals begin Monday with a 6 p.m. CT kickoff against Wright State at Alumni Field in Dayton, Ohio.
• UIC will be looking for revenge after falling to the Raiders, 1-0, one week ago (Oct. 21) at Flames Field.