Notre Dame scored three goals in the second half to pull away from a Flames squad that had the better of the first half Tuesday night.  Freshman Josh Torres had a breakout game, with a game-high five shots and two on goal.

Sean Phillips' Summary
"Notre Dame is obviously a talented team.  We came in with a tactical approach that the guys did an excellent job of executing in the first half.  Notre Dame made a couple of adjustments that made things more difficult for us.  For the first 60 minutes, and even after the first goal, we were still executing well.  It was a disappointing result considering how well we played the first 60 minutes."

Turning Points

• Notre Dame scored just after the hour mark following a foul above the right side of the box.  The free kick met the head of an unmarked runner and went inside the far post.
• The lead was doubled in the 74^th minute.  Andres Vasquez came out to play a loose ball.  Unable to grab it cleanly, he was left out of position when an Irish attacker gathered it and passed across the vacant goal mouth to a teammate in position to send it past the defenders who had retreated to the line.
• A penalty kick with less than five minutes to play sealed the outcome.

Match Details
UIC carried most of the first half and created a number of promising chances.  They earned back-to-back corner kicks, and in the ensuing action Josh Torres found himself in the middle of the box for a couple of tries, one of which had to be saved.  Late in the half, Torres was on the end of a shot that was blocked over the line, giving the Flames another corner kick.

"He's starting to find his feet," Phillips said of the freshman who made just his second start, and played the full 90 minutes.  "The learning curve from youth soccer to college soccer is coming along.  He's showing glimpses.  He kept possession and created dangerous chances.  Hopefully this is the start of a series of games where he's able to play heavy minutes and contribute."

Josiah Ash turned a pass from Aaron Nguyen into a shot that keeper Thomas Deslongchamps bobbled.  With nobody nearby, he was able to recover in time.  That was one of four shots on goal in a first half that saw Notre Dame put a lone attempt on net, in the eighth minute.

After halftime, the Irish defense wrote a different story.  The Flames found it more difficult to possess the ball in the final third, and took half as many shots in the final 45 minutes as they did in the first 45.  Yet it wasn't until the hour mark that the hosts generated much offense of their own.  A throw-in was headed along until Vasquez made a diving save.  Two minutes later, a free kick initiated the match's first goal.

"The first one was disappointing to give up.  At the start of the year, we were very good on set pieces," Phillips said.  "Notre Dame is very good on them; they got one when they didn't have any dangerous chances up until that goal."

A similar sequence lined up around ND's second goal.  A diving Vasquez save staved off danger momentarily, but just minutes later his aggressiveness got the better of him and the Irish had an easy goal.  "After their first goal, we had to open up a little, and while not directly off a corner kick, they kept the ball in play off a corner kick and made it 2-0," Phillips noted. 

Eduardo Garcia had the team's best chance to cut into the deficit.  He lined up a free kick 22 yards from the goal, straight on, in the 85^th minute.  It eluded the wall and beat the keeper, only to hit the crossbar and bounce harmlessly away.  Manny Cerritos was whistled for contact in the box a moment later, pursuing an attacker from behind after the Flames had pushed numbers forward, to set up the final strike.

Three final games await the Flames, all in Horizon League play as teams continue to battle for postseason seeding.  UIC will return to action Saturday at Cleveland State.