The much-anticipated 2022 regular season will begin Thursday night, when UIC visits Louisville.  A solid returning core from last year's Flames squad will mesh with a deep group of newcomers, as the program faces an ACC side in its second straight opener.

UIC returns 100% of its goal scoring, and all but one of its assists, from last season.  Senior Megan Bowman was the team's leading scorer in 2021.  Her four goals on the campaign brought her into a tie for the most goals in program history.  Junior Kaitlyn Montague added a burst of goal scoring to her offensive game last year.  She tied the program record for goals in a game with a brace against Robert Morris, after previously tying the mark for assists in a game in 2020.

Veterans Brielle Gomez and Grace Haines will anchor the back line.  Both of them started every match last season.  Behind them, Flames fans will see a new goalkeeper for the first time since 2019.  Sara Sanabria and Lauren Keiser each saw spot action last year, and split the playing time in the team's three exhibition matches, as they vie to become Lena Kurz' replacement.  Kurz set every single-season and career goalkeeping record during her decorated career.

Eleven newcomers have been working hard to gain a spot in the opening day lineup.  Graduate transfer Frankie Frericks has 38 appearances under her belt from her time at Stetson and Creighton.  The team's nine freshmen hail mostly from the Midwest, with California and Texas also represented.  They too have seen action in the preseason in a variety of combinations.

The Flames allowed just one goal in each of their three preseason friendlies.  They are coming off a 4-1 win over Central Michigan in which Montague had two goals and an assist.  Jackie Santibanez and Sophia Jaime also scored a goal apiece.

In Louisville, the Flames will see a team that will need to replace significant portions of its offense from a team that went .500 last year.  Three of its top four scorers have departed, as has all of its goalkeeping experience.  Whoever starts in net Thursday will be seeing her first collegiate minutes.  The two programs have never met.  UIC has played only one ACC program in its history.  The Flames held Wake Forest to one goal in last year's opener, before the Demon Deacons went on to score multiple goals in each of their next seven matches.

Thursday's opener will be UIC's first match as members of the Missouri Valley Conference.  The team will have six non-conference matches before the Valley opener against Illinois State September 18.

The match can be seen on ACC Network Extra, available to anyone who subscribes to the ACC Network as part of their cable or satellite package.  Live stats will also be available.