CHICAGO – The Flames got their Horizon League campaign started on a high note Thursday night as they turned out their first win of the season with a 2-0 shutout over Detroit Mercy at Flames Field. Tamae Douglas collected the game-winner while Emily Kavanaugh also scored and added an assist.
 
Following a combined seven-shot first half, UIC turned out 12 in the second for 16 on the night and matched its season best with eight shots on goal. Kavanaugh had her best game of the season as she posted eight shots and put six of those on goal to lead the team en route to a three-point game. Douglas and Keri Birkenhead made up the remaining shots on goal.
 
Haley Leanna played the complete game for the third straight match to pick up her first career win and shutout as she made saves on all three of the Titans' shots that reached goal. She was not faced with much as UDM was held to just five shots in the match.
 
The Flames are now 1-8-0 on the season and begin conference at 1-0-0 while the Titans go to 2-4-2 with a 0-1-0 HL record.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After going off target with their first two attempts, the Flames converted in the 14th minute to go ahead 1-0. Emily Kavanaugh sent in a corner kick that the UDM goalkeeper could not control and had it bounce to Douglas, who bodied the ball into the net.
• The Titans picked up the possession, limiting UIC to just one more shot in the second half, but they only had two shots of their own result in saves from Leanna as the UIC defense was key in breaking up any threat.
• The Flames were vested in keeping the control in their favor in the second half and they did just that, scattering five shots and limiting UDM to two before they went off in the final 11 minutes of play.
• In the 79th minute, Kavanaugh came up with UIC's best look of the half as she was stopped point blank. It was the same result three minutes later for Birkenhead, with Kavanaugh having her shots halted two more times with less than five minutes to play.
• Following a yellow card issued to the Flames' bench with under a minute remaining, a free ball found the foot of Kavanaugh, who took the ball from mid field and made her one to take on the goalie one-on-one. Veering to the right, she took a quick stab at the ball and scored with 40 seconds to go for added insurance.

 
NOTABLES

• UIC used its seventh different group of starters this season with Meaghan Smith getting her first career start on the back line.
• The Flames' 16 shots set the second highest total this season while UDM's five shots were the fewest taken by an opponent.
• The goals scored by Douglas and Kavanaugh were each their second on the year. Douglas' game-winner was the second of her career. Kavanaugh's three-point performance was the first of its kind for any Flame this season.
• The win marked the first time in program history that UIC began conference play with a 1-0-0 record.

 
NEXT UP

• UIC will take a quick break from conference play as it makes the trek to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a Sunday matchup at Central Michigan. Kickoff is scheduled for noon CT at the CMU Soccer Complex.