UIC will continue play in the Horizon League tournament with a semifinal match at #1 Oakland Thursday afternoon.
"We're looking forward to what should be an excellent college soccer game. Over the course of the Horizon League season, Oakland proved to be the most consistent team in the conference,"
Sean Phillips said. "They are well-coached, they are experienced, they have a talented attack, and they have been finding ways to win games over the course of the last month and a half. We have to continue to strive to be better in all the important areas, so that we give ourselves a chance to get a result and advance on Thursday."
The fourth-seeded Flames are in the semifinal round for the seventh straight year. They got there thanks to a 2-1, double overtime win over Detroit Mercy in the quarterfinals.
Bukola Abdulwahab and
Pau Mateo scored in the win.
This will be the first time the Flames have faced the Golden Grizzlies in postseason action. During the regular season, UIC topped Oakland on the road by a 2-0 final.
Nkusuwila Zulu and
Josh Torres provided the goals, while
Andres Vasquez made six saves and was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week.
Abdulwahab has been one of the hottest offensive players for the Flames of late. He has scored the first goal of the match in each of the team's last three outings. Two of those goals stood up as the game-winner. He has five goals on the season, good for second on the team, and one ahead of Mateo. Mateo's four goals are a career high, and three of them were game-winning goals.
Defensively, a full team effort has been strong through each of UIC's last several matches. They have shut out two of their last four opponents, allowed just two goals total over those four matches, and conceded a lone goal in that span from the run of play (Detroit Mercy scored on a penalty kick). Vasquez has been consistent in goal, and his back line has made plays of their own, including three saves in the quarterfinal match.
Oakland secured its first regular season championship since 2014 with a 2-1, double overtime win over Northern Kentucky in the regular season finale. Noah Jensen, an All-Horizon League first teamer, scored the golden goal. He leads the league with 11 assists. Seven Golden Grizzlies earned All-League honors. Leading scorer Mikey Ketteman (9 goals) joined Jensen on the first team. Eric Pogue was named Coach of the Year after Oakland went unbeaten in their last eight conference matches.
Thursday's match will start at noon Central. The winner will advance to Saturday's championship match, against the winner of the other semifinal between Cleveland State and Milwaukee. All tournament action can be seen on ESPN+.
