UIC struck first early, and had a late potential game-winner waved off, and Detroit Mercy scored the golden goal in the fourth minute of overtime to claim a 2-1 win at Flames Field Sunday.

Before the match, the careers and contributions of seniors Tina Thorsen, Alexis Weeren, Maeve Riordan, Janai Cedeno, Megan Bowman, and Lena Kurz were celebrated in front of friends and family.

David Nikolic's Summary
'All credit to Detroit Mercy - we took it to them the first half and probably should have had four.  They kept fighting and kept in the game, and this is what happens.  You have to complete the full 90 minutes and again, I give credit to them because they played 94 minutes and they got the result.  We dominated in every category today.  Possession, possession percentage, number of passes, shots, but what matters is getting the result and we just couldn't do it."

Turning Points

• Kaitlyn Montague scored the Flames' goal in the seventh minute.  After she made a throw-in, action in the box propelled the ball back in her direction.  She lined up a shot from the top of the box and scored inside the right post.
• Detroit Mercy drew even in the 52^nd minute.  They had a couple of shots blocked before Erica Leinweber gathered the loose ball and poked it in.
• The Titans ended the match at 93:42 on a through ball played by Hailey Wentzloff, ahead to Erica Toupin, who lofted a shot in the upper left corner.

Match Details
UIC's opening goal, which marked just the second time all season that the Flames drew first blood, came after a dominating spell of possession off the opening kick.  Senior Alexis Weeren, making her first start of the season, was set up in the box by Nia Harley for a quality shot that was saved.  Weeren had another try on a header in the 10^th minute.  In between, Kaitlyn Montague netted her team-high third goal of the season.  She showed excellent marksmanship on a shot from above the box.

The surge at the beginning of the match may have been born from the pregame senior ceremony.  "It definitely added good energy," Nikolic said.  "We told them we're fighting here to keep going and we need results.  Seeing the emotion as the seniors walked through the tunnel, that's a special tunnel of honor and the players set that up.  You could see the emotion on their faces as they came through and I think that added a boost for the start of the game."

Montague rattled the cage twice more in the first half.  She put on another long-distance attempt and watched it hit the post, and late in the period took a pass from Kathryn Rutledge that turned into a crossbar contact.  "She's proving that she's deserving of that role," Nikolic said of the sophomore who had as many shots on goal herself – four – as the entire Titans team.  "She's creating chances for herself.  These are situations where she's setting herself up and she's going at her defender 1-on-1 to break them down and unleashing a shot.  She had one hit the crossbar that was fantastic.  Those opportunities are there and she's done well."

Harley had a quality try of her own off a free kick as part of a first half that saw the Flames outshoot Detroit Mercy 10-1.  The hosts went on to claim a 16-5 advantage in the match.

Weeren took another shot that had potential but sailed high to get things started in the second half.  Things did not come as easily for them after the break as the Titans mounted credible attacks of their own.  After their equalizer, they had a goal waved off for offside.  Meanwhile, connections in the Flames' final third did not always go on target, as Rutledge and Megan Bowman each had time to line up a shot, but each went high.

A well-executed set piece in the 82^nd minute started when Rutledge scooted a free kick along the ground into the box, where a committed runner tipped it into the net.  The flag was up, though, and the game continued to overtime.

The Flames will have the week off before returning to action Saturday at Wright State.