EVANSTON, Ill. – The UIC men's soccer team advanced to the finals of the annual Chicago Cup with a 4-1 victory over DePaul in the semifinals Saturday afternoon. Brian Perez led the way, scoring a brace, while Josh Torres had a goal and two assists afternoon.
 
Sean Phillips Summary
"Coming off our loss at Marquette we challenged our guys to be more productive with our possession and we were. It was a positive start full of energy, obviously, with the first goal coming in the fifth minute. We asked the guys to be better in individual and team defending and they were. We asked them to be better playing forward and they were. The challenge now as we play Loyola for the Chicago Cup is to not be satisfied. We built from Marquette to DePaul and now need to do the same from DePaul to Loyola."
 
Turning Points

• UIC quickly built a 1-0 lead in the 5^th minute after UIC pressure forced a Blue Demon turnover. Andres Moreno drove into the offensive third, creating an opportunity for Torres to connect and put the Flames on top.
• The lead grew to 3-0 after goals from Perez, his first of the day, and Christian Crespo in the 14^th and 16^th minutes, respectively.
• DePaul got back into the game with a goal in the 30^th minute to make it 3-1 Flames.
• The Flames pushed the advantage back to three at 4-1 in the 74^th minute when Perez scored his second goal of the game for the brace.

 
Match Details
Just five minutes into the match the Flames struck first for the 1-0 lead off the goal by Torres and the assist from Moreno.
 
"We defended very well to open the game, applied great pressure and created a turnover. Andres drove at their center backs and created an opportunity for Torres," said Phillips.
 
UIC maintained its pressure on the Blue Demons, converting on a pair of scoring opportunities in the 14^th minute and moments later in the 16^th minute.
 
Great combination play along the right side of the field with multiple players resulted in the ball being at the foot of Ezau Millan, who slid the ball across the goal to Perez. Perez slotted the ball to the post to put the Flames in front by a 2-0 margin.
 
The lead grew to 3-0 after more combination play in the final third resulted in Crespo converting off the assist from Torres.
 
DePaul countered with a goal of their own in the 30^th minute to pull within two at 3-1 in favor of the Flames.
 
Coming out of the halftime break, the Flames made a concerted effort to play the same way they opened the first half, and it showed on the field.
 
"It was a bright start to the second half. We went back to what got us our goals early. We defended well, applied the right pressure, and made it tough for DePaul to play," noted Phillips.
 
The Flames maintained its two-goal lead until the 74^th minute when Perez converted for the brace off of Torres' second assist of the afternoon.
 
"The right side of our team, again, with some excellent play resulted in Torres connecting with Brian for his second goal of the game," observed Phillips.
 
First Half Lineup
Andres Vasquez, David Ejeh (Eduardo Huerta), Pau Mateo, Juan Gutierrez, Eduardo Garcia, Aaron Nguyen, Andres Moreno, Ezau Millan, Christian Crespo, Brian Perez, Josh Torres (Olek Melnyk)
 
Second Half Lineup
Vasquez, Huerta, Mateo (Manny Cerritos), Gutierrez, Garcia, Nguyen, Moreno (Jonathan Mayen), Millan (Andi Kallaba), Crespo (Julian DaSilva), Perez, Melnyk (Torres)
 
Up Next
The Flames will now face Loyola in the finals of the Chicago Cup on April 23 after the Ramblers defeated Northwestern in the other semifinal.