A high-scoring match saw UIC score early and late, but in between Notre Dame had the better of the chances in posting a 4-2 victory over the Flames Tuesday night.  Paul Brauckmann scored his first career goal in the eighth minute, and Josh Torres scored his team-leading fifth with 10 minutes to play.


 
Scoring Summary

• Notre Dame scored early when Andres Vasquez, a Flames defender, and an Irish attacker all converged on a through ball just outside the box.  With players down and the ball free, Matthew Roou tapped it into an empty net.
• Paul Brauckmann brought the Flames right back in the eighth minute.  A corner kick, earned off a nice counter of an Irish corner, went to Brian Perez for a shot off the post.  Brauckmann gathered the rebound and scored to make it 1-1.
• Just before halftime, the Irish used interplay to take the advantage again.  The ball was dropped off for a high shot that eluded Vasquez.
• Roou made it a brace in the 57^th minute after a backward, over-the-head volley set him up in the corner of the box for a well-placed shot.
• It was 4-1 in the 73^rd minute after a team save of an Irish shot, which rebounded to Mitch Ferguson for an opportune finish.
• Josh Torres brought the Flames a little closer in the 80^th minute.  A corner kick came to him, and his initial shot at the top of the box was blocked, but no farther than a stride.  He re-gathered and lobbed a shot to the top of the goal.

Notre Dame got out on the front foot, forcing Vasquez to venture to the top of the box and slap the ball away from an attacker in the first minute.  That portended the play that Vasquez tried to make shortly thereafter that became ND's first goal.  But after Brauckmann got the Flames level, it was UIC that had the better of play for good stretches of the first half.

Brauckmann put a 27^th-minute header on goal.  He went on to share game high honors with four shots.  In the 38^th minute, after Vasquez made a nice save, the Flames immediately countered with Brauckmann springing free, and then connecting with Andres Lemus for a shot that required a low save.

The visitors seized momentum with a 44^th-minute goal, and carried it into the beginning of the second half.  Vasquez made a winning play when he fell on a ball at the feet of an attacker, but that only temporarily stemmed the tide as the Irish scored in the 57^th minute.  The Flames had two set pieces around the hour mark that came close to clawing that goal right back.  Eduardo Garcia took a free kick from the right side and opted to put it on goal, bounding his shot through traffic and just off the side of the net.  Another free kick, from the left side, was played centrally to Brauckmann, whose shot went just high.

The Flames' goals were the first by the program against Notre Dame in five all-time meetings.  UIC's goal scorers had four shots apiece, contributing to the team's total of 14, which matched that of the Irish.  Notre Dame was more precise, however, as 12 of their tries went on goal to mark a season high against UIC, and the most the Flames have allowed since Michigan put 13 shots on goal on Sept. 10, 2010.

UIC will close out the season with three more Missouri Valley matches, beginning Sunday at Bradley.