A thrilling finish saw an 89^th-minute equalizer, and very nearly a 90^th-minute game-winner, as a seesaw match ended in a 3-all draw between UIC and Belmont Saturday night.

Trailing from the very early stages, the Flames fought back and went ahead 3-2 in the second half.  Belmont netted a tying goal with 1:47 to play, and then in the last 20 seconds, Andres Lemus had an open shot that went off the post.

Scoring Summary

• Belmont took a very early lead when a free runner headed a corner kick into the net.
• The Bruins doubled their lead in the 17^th minute, courtesy of the same duo that built their first goal.  Jansen Wilson, on a free kick, assisted on Case Cox's tally again.
• The Flames halved the deficit in the 41^st minute.  A corner kick was headed out of the box by Belmont, to an open Aaron Nguyen, who settled the ball and then blasted it to the upper right corner of the goal.  It was the first goal of his career.
• Ten minutes in to the second half, a forward press put Brian Perez on the ball on the right wing.  He crossed into the box for Josh Torres, whose sliding kick at the edge of the six found the back of the net.
• Four minutes later, the Flames took the lead.  Ricardo Avalos sent in a low corner kick that bounced once and then reached Pau Mateo.  Mateo stabbed it with his right leg past the keeper.
• It wasn't until the 89^th minute that Belmont struck again.  Cox completed the hat trick after a free kick was headed off the crossbar, then knocked around until he corralled it and sent it inside the left post.

 Despite surrendering a fourth-minute goal, the Flames controlled play for the opening moments of the first half.  Twice, a promising shot was deflected over the end line, giving UIC a corner kick.  They had four chances from the corner altogether in the first 10 minutes.

Aaron Nguyen figured prominently on both ends throughout the first half.  He took a shot off an early corner kick that went wide, foreshadowing the play that would result in his first career goal late in the half.  He also made a back-heel save on a Bruin shot that snuffed out a chance that was abetted by some defensive confusion.

The Flames became surer and surer on the offensive end as the first half wore on.  Ezau Millan got open for a long shot with pace that required a more difficult saved than it might have seemed off his foot.  Ricardo Avalos sniped a shot off the post before the Flames built up for the corner kick that led to Nguyen's goal.

"We built some momentum with Avalos striking a ball off the post, and Aaron Nguyen showed his technical abilities in scoring his goal," Sean Phillips said.  "Our challenge to the guys was to win the second half and get a result.  We did win the second half 2-1, and got a result, just not quite the one we wanted.

"I'm very pleased and impressed with the character our guys showed.  They never quit.  They kept chipping away."

UIC took that momentum into the second half.  They looked good in connecting passes up the field, with Eduardo Garcia and Manny Cerritos doing the honors on separate occasions in the first handful of minutes.  After the Flames scored twice in four minutes, the tide had completely turned.  Belmont took it as a wake-up call and put Andres Vasquez on the spot for a pair of saves after the hour mark, and then an aggressive snag of a ball sent in from beside the box on a free kick.

Garcia had a chance to add insurance in the 82^nd minute, but his shot was tipped up by the keeper and then caught.  Vasquez dodged attackers, diving and chesting balls as Belmont frantically tried to push for a late goal.  Their third goal was only part of a frantic final few minutes that also saw a Flames set piece result in Lemus' post shot, and a Belmont shot that went wide as time expired.

"It's a conflicting feeling to be so close to 3 points on the road," Phillips said.  "Belmont is a very good team who is very good at what they do.  They are excellent at executing set pieces, and they did it three times.  We grabbed three points from them, and they grabbed two back from us."

UIC became the first Valley team to take a point from Belmont, and moved to 1-1-1 in the conference.  The Flames will travel downstate to take on SIUE next Sunday.