CHICAGO – Positioned with the No. 5 seed, the UIC women's soccer team (7-12-0, 5-4-0 HL) will make its first ever run in the Horizon League Championship when it begins play Monday in the Quarterfinals against No. 4-seed Wright State (11-7-0, 6-3-0 HL). Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT at Alumni Field in Dayton, Ohio.
 
Postseason Bound
In just their fourth season of competition, the Flames will play in the postseason for the first time. UIC rounded out Horizon League play with a 5-4-0 record, marking a program-best five conference victories, to earn the No. 5 seed for the tournament.
 
Last Time Out
The Flames clinched their berth into the postseason after defeating Oakland, 1-0, on Friday night (Oct. 27) at Flames Field. Paige Proctor netted the game-winner with her first career goal as Christina Hovatter added the assist. Annie DiCanio and Kelly Fritz split the shutout after each needing to make just one save.
 
Scouting the Flames
UIC scored 10 of its 21 goals on the year in its last six conference games of the regular season, outscoring opponents, 10-3, and going 5-1-0 in that span. Twelve players have contributed to the total while Tamae Douglas (4) and Emily Valentine (3) lead the effort. Olivia Everin has aided the most goals with four assists, followed by Valentine and Keri Birkenhead with two apiece.
 
The offense has produced the second-most shot in the Horizon League with 256 and have put 104 of those attempts on goal. Over the last four games, the Flames have outshot foes, 52-31. Eight players have reached double digits in their chances with Everin (37), Douglas (35), Birkenhead (29), Valentine (26) and Rebeca Pallo (25) at the top. The group of five additionally make up 61 of the shots on goal.
 
DiCanio has played 818 minutes in goal this season while Tara Khayam and Fritz split the remainder. DiCanio owns 36 saves, followed by Khayam with 29 and Fritz with 20. Six of the team's wins were credited to DiCanio along with three complete-game shutouts and two shared, as she has also posted a team-best 1.32 goals-against-average, with a 0.72 mark in conference.
 
Scouting the Raiders
Wright State garnered the No. 4 seed after taking out Detroit Mercy, 1-0, in its regular season finale. The Raiders ride a three-match win streak into the tournament as they went 4-1-0 so far in the month of October.
 
WSU has scored the second-most goals in the Horizon League with 30 as 15 of those tallies were against conference foes. Sarah Colvin (6), Mattie Cutts (4) and Jordyne Helinski (4) have secured the most goals, as Colvin (7) and Aaliyah Patten (6) have notched 13 of the team's 28 assists. The Raiders have taken 192 shots and put 104 on goal with Helinski (32), Colvin (26) and Patten (26) again at the top.
 
Maddie Jewell has manned all but 350 minutes in goal this season as she holds 53 saves, seven complete-game shutouts, 10 wins against a 0.91 GAA.
 
Regular Season Meeting
UIC is seeking revenge after it was defeated by Wright State, 1-0, at home two weeks ago (Oct. 21). The Flames outshot the Raiders, 15-6, in that match but only had two of their efforts reach on goal. UIC currently sits with a 1-3-0 record in the all-time series.
 
Sites Set on Next Round
The winner of Monday's match will move on to the Semifinals, where the highest-remaining seed will take on No. 2 Northern Kentucky and the lowest-remaining seed will face No. 1 Milwaukee. The Semifinals (Thursday) and Championship (Saturday) matches will be held at Engelmann Stadium in Milwaukee, Wis.