Strikes by the Blue Demons and Mother Nature hit the Flames Sunday in DePaul's win at Wish Field.

DePaul scored three times before a 23^rd-minute lightning delay that lasted nearly an hour.  Lena Kurz finished with six saves in the 3-0 final.

Coach Nikolic's Summary
"All credit to DePaul, they came out with a great level of intensity and we were on the back foot right from the start.  We had the lightning delay, and we were able to regroup and get some ideas together.  We saw the Flames that we've seen this year so far from that point on.  But after putting ourselves into that much of a hole, it takes a lot of energy to build it back up."

Turning Points

• DePaul struck early when Morgan Turner was in position to send the rebound of a save into the back of the net.
• Two more goals in quick succession, capped by another by Turner from outside the box, put the Blue Demons up 3-0.
• UIC withstood 10 more shots and got a couple of brilliant second-half saves from Lena Kurz to keep DePaul off the scoreboard the rest of the match.

Match Details
Lena Kurz was tested early and made a routine play before having to dive to smother a shot.  She later made a save in the 10^th minute, only to have DePaul score on the rebound.  The lead was doubled in the 20^th minute on a close-range shot, and increased again two minutes later via a long-distance rocket from outside the box.

While the Flames were playing the third of four straight road games to begin the season, their first match in Chicago afforded their supporters the chance to make up the majority of the crowd at Wish Field.  "It was great, at the start of the game I'm looking up there and seeing all that red," Nikolic said.  "It's great for the players, they're excited to play in front of their family and friends.  They're disappointed in the result but they showed at the end the fight that we had and we kept on battling."

Makena Shaw had UIC's best chance of the first half, after the offense gained momentum and held possession late in the period.  She took a pass from Megan Bowman and put a quality shot toward the goal, only to see it hit the crossbar and bounce straight down, but not over the line.  "That was a great attempt by Makena to try to pull one back, and that could have changed things," Nikolic said.  "The linesman was in decent position.  I'm wishing and hoping that things are going to be different and we're going to get that ball to bounce in instead of on the field side."

DePaul was content to rely on their defense the second half, to the extent that when Allie Tefend tried to dribble into the box, she was triple-teamed and depossessed.  An offside flag negated another offensive push by Megan Bowman, and UIC managed just three shots the whole match.

Kurz made two tremendous plays to keep the Blue Demons off the board in the second half.  A corner kick was headed right to the goal, and she saw it all the way and was able to react in time.  Later, an initial shot hit the post and bounded to a Blue Demon, whose effort was stymied.  Bowman had a very nice block of a top-of-the-box shot late in the match to turn away DePaul's last real threat.

The Flames will return to action Thursday at Penn.