UIC will visit league-leading Cleveland State in a critical battle for postseason seeding.

The Vikings, who have lost just one conference game all year, have 21 points in Horizon League play.  The Flames are in fourth place at 4-3, nine points behind CSU with three games remaining.  If the Flames are to have any chance at the regular season title, a win in Cleveland is mandatory.

"It's one game at a time," Sean Phillips emphasized.  "Cleveland State has been very good this year.  Our #1 task is to get three points at Cleveland Saturday.  They don't give up much at home; it will be a tall task."

The Vikings are 5-1 at home.  Their lone loss came to Bowling Green, who is currently ranked 14^th in the nation.  They boast the Horizon League's top goal scorer and assist maker, in Bojan Kolevski and Jannis Schmidt, respectively.

UIC will look to end a two-game slide, having not scored in the last two matches.  Offensively, they will turn to Younes Dayekh, who ranks in the top 40 nationally with seven goals, and Nkusuwila Zulu, who projects to return to the lineup after sitting out on a red card Wednesday.  Andres Vasquez has a league-high five shutouts.  The Flames will need him to approach that form to counter a Viking squad that ranks at the top of the table in goals, assists, and points.

Saturday's match will start at 6 p.m. Central, and can be seen on ESPN+.