UIC will face Milwaukee in the regular season's final match Friday night. The Flames enter play at 12-4, 6-1 in Horizon League play, while the 8-6-2 (2-3-2) Panthers need a win to have any hope of making the conference tournament.
The Flames have only won seven Horizon League games in a season once before. A win would also give the team their most regular season wins since 2013. The Panthers are a stout 5-1-1 at home, including a win over Wisconsin among their results in their last four home matches.
"Our challenge to the guys this week has been to shut out the distractions and give Milwaukee our entire focus,"
Sean Phillips said. "They are a talented team that has given us some incredibly hard-fought battles over the years. They will be hitting us with everything they have to get the three points. We need to be disciplined, focused, and make the winning plays to accomplish our goal of going 1-0 on Friday."
Coverage of the match will be on ESPN+. Kickoff will be at 7 pm.
Last Time Out
- The Flames pulled out yet another overtime win, 2-1 over Cleveland State on Saturday at Flames Field.
- Nkusuwila Zulu scored both goals. His golden goal was a beautiful, wicked bended shot from a short angle to the far post.
- Roberto Alonzo assisted on both of Zulu's scores.
- UIC blitzed CSU's goal with 35 shots, 18 of which were on target.
Flames to Watch
- Zulu has scored in three straight matches and is the league leader in points per conference match.
- UIC's durable back line has seen Pau Mateo, Jacob Graiber, and Eduardo Garcia start every match. They are three of the Flames' top four field players in terms of minutes played. Cristian Sanchez has started as the fourth defender 13 times.
- Bar Hazut is second in the conference and 26th in the nation in total goals.
- Bukola Abdulwahab is the Horizon League's most prolific scorer in conference games and is in the national top 50 in goals and points per game.
Scouting Milwaukee
- Milwaukee battled Oakland to a scoreless draw in their last match.
- Freddy Lorenzen stopped three shots for his conference-best fifth shutout.
- Evan Conway has a team high 14 points and is tied with Vuk Latinovich with five goals. Joshua Kidder has six assists.
- Lorenzen has a 1.16 goals-against average and a .695 save percentage.
A Top-5 Offense
- UIC's relentless attack has placed the team in the top five in several categories in the latest NCAA rankings.
- The Flames lead the nation in shots per game (19.8) and in shots on goal per game (8.9).
- UIC has scored 44 total goals, good for fourth in the country, with 2.8 per game ranking third.
- The team is third in total assists, with 42, which works out to 2.6 per game and a fourth place showing.
- With 130 points, UIC has yet another fourth place ranking. The Flames are third with 8.1 points per game.
Working Overtime
- Seven matches have required extra time. Four of them have been on the road. UIC is 6-1 in OT affairs.
- The seven total OT matches trail only the eight overtime affairs in 2003, nine in 2009 and 10 in 2007 for most in program history.
- With six wins, the Flames have set the record for most OT wins in a season. The previous mark of four was reached three times.
Panther Tracks
- UIC has a slim one-win advantage in the all-time series against one of their longest standing rivals.
- The Flames have won the last four meetings.
- Milwaukee has won only three matchups since 2003.
- Three of the last five meetings have gone to overtime. UIC is 2-0-1 in them.
- The Panthers hold a 7-3-3 edge on their home turf. UIC won the last meeting in Milwaukee, 2-1 in 2017.
