Sophia Jaime scored her first goal of the season at a crucial moment, netting an 82^nd-minute equalizer that gave UIC a 1-1 draw with Murray State Sunday afternoon.  It was the Flames' second straight result in Missouri Valley action, and concluded a two-point road trip over the weekend.
 
Scoring Summary

• Murray State took an early lead via an eighth-minute corner kick to the far post, that was headed back across the goal and off the near post and in.
• The Flames tallied with eight minutes to play, when Kaitlyn Montague initiated a throw-in that landed in the box.  After a couple of touches, the ball found Sophia Jaime, who shouldered off her defender, made a turn, and shot left past the keeper.
• "We recruited her on her ability to strike the ball," David Nikolic said of Jaime.  "We've been waiting for her to connect on one of those.  That's a very natural movement for her.  She was able to smash it in and she also had a good shot in the first half.  She got around her defender and was able to tag it, she was just a little too close to the goalkeeper."

A goal eight minutes in, and another with eight minutes to play, were the only scores of a match that was evenly played throughout.  Murray State scored first, but their goal was sandwiched by moments of opportunity for the Flames as Megan Bowman got things going.  She took a shot off a corner kick, and later thumped one from distance that forced a save over the crossbar.

"In the first eight minutes, we were all over the place," David Nikolic allowed.  "Murray took advantage of their opportunity, and they probably had another that we were fortunate didn't also result in a goal."

On the other end, Murray's keeper made the necessary plays, particularly when Jelena Zbiljic played Kaitlyn Montague into the box.  Later, her goal kick was played right back toward her by the Flames, but she was alert to move up and deny UIC an attempt.  Shots were at a premium, with each team only putting four on goal.

The Flames did have a couple of pushes later in the first half.  Makenna Maloy took a long shot that beat the keeper but stayed wide of the post, and Riley Collett used fancy footwork to get into the box, though her cross found nobody.

"You can see what the resilience of this team is.  They rallied around each other.  We were steady in the middle of the half, and then we got better toward the end of the half," Nikolic said.

Just after the hour mark, a Flames free kick from the left side of the box was headed on goal, though it lacked the pace necessary to challenge the keeper.  After that, fortune smiled on the Flames when a Murray corner kick got headed off the crossbar.  The Flames kept attacking, won the throw that led to their goal, and had another push between Frankie Frericks and Bowman that just couldn't assemble a final piece.

Nikolic was happy with the way his team handled the task of chasing a goal.  "We had a solid second half performance.  Outside of a couple of corner kicks, there was no real danger defensively.  We got to decent areas as the half went along.  We didn't hold back.  We kept pushing."  

The long trip is the last on the Flames' schedule, as they will have just a couple of one-off road matches while playing four of their final six matches at home.  "We spent four nights in hotels on a five-day trip," Nikolic pointed out, continuing, "there were lots of positives.  We're going in a good direction; we just want to get a win next time and keep our momentum going and build on it.  I'm happy for them; they put the work in and were cognizant of scouting reports.  Each game is a huge game now."

UIC will host Evansville on Thursday at Flames Field.