UIC will honor its three seniors at their final regular season home match at Flames Field Saturday night. The team will host Cleveland State at 7 pm in a match that will be important to both teams' postseason aspirations.
Lyes Ghezali,
Jesus Perez, and
Cristian Sanchez will be recognized for their careers and contributions to the program, which include an active 20-match home winning streak. That is the longest streak in the country, and a program record.
"It's a small group numerically, but their impact on this program is quite the opposite,"
Sean Phillips said. "For a program that lost so much from 2018 to 2019, several people thought it would be difficult for us to have a good season this year. This year's senior class deserves a ton of credit for their leadership. A lot of that work was done in the spring and summer, when we brought in a big group of guys that were new to what UIC Soccer is.
"The seniors have led by example in numerous areas on and off the field. They are a larger-than-appreciated reason for us being where we are right now, with 11 wins and in contention for the regular season title."
The Flames, who are receiving votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches national poll, are in first place in the Horizon League and can clinch the regular season title with a win and an Oakland loss or draw. Cleveland State is in a three-way tie for third place, and needs every point it can get to garner a top-four seed, which includes home field advantage in the conference quarterfinals.
"Cleveland State is having a very nice year, as evidenced by their win over Akron," Phillips said. "Even though their coach is in his first year, his playing career speaks for itself. He was a heck of a player and I see some of him in the team. They play a good brand of soccer. They're in great form right now. We'll have to continue to take our chances and limit theirs, and I anticipate one heck of an entertaining soccer game."
The first 400 UIC students through the gates will receive a free UIC Soccer scarf.
Last Time Out
- The Flames scored the most goals in a game since 2005 in a 7-1 win over IUPUI on Sunday.
- Bukola Abdulwahab had a hat trick. Four Flames had a goal apiece.
- It was a program record for goals in a conference game.
- The Flames took at least 24 shots for the fourth time.
Flames to Watch
- Abdulwahab is the reigning Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week. He has scored goals in five straight matches.
- Perez has a Horizon League-high and ranks 13th nationally with eight total assists on the season. He is second on the team with a career high 20 points.
- Hazut is up to 10 goals on the season, good for 18th place in the nation.
Scouting Cleveland State
- Cleveland State knocked off defending national runner-up Akron, 3-1 Tuesday. Gabriel Pewu scored twice, and Vlad Jandric had a goal and an assist.
- It marked the fourth win in CSU's last five matches.
- Pewu is among the conference leaders with 19 points on the season.
- Freshman keeper Omeed Naeemy has a 1.05 goals-against average with a .754 save percentage.
A Top-5 Offense
- UIC's relentless attack has placed the team in the top 10 in several categories in the latest NCAA rankings.
- The Flames are second in the nation in shots per game (18.7) and third in shots on goal per game (8.3).
- UIC has scored 42 total goals, good for fourth in the country, with 2.8 per game ranking third.
- The team is fourth in total assists, with 39, which works out to 2.6 per game and a fifth place showing.
- With 123 points, UIC has yet another fourth place ranking. The Flames are third with 8.2 points per game.
Viking Vitals
- UIC beat Cleveland State twice in 2017, but the Vikings have won seven of the last 10 meetings.
- The teams went to overtime six times in an eight-match stretch between 2003 and 2009.
- Nine of the last 12 matchups have been draws or one-goal margins.
- The Flames hold an 11-9-1 edge in matches at Flames Field.
