There were many positives for UIC to take away from their home opener against DePaul Thursday night, but the primary one – a win – was unfortunately not one of them.  The balance of quality shots and opportunities favored the Flames, but a lone goal by the visitors stood up in a 1-0 match that was shortened by lightning.

"At the end of the day it was 13 to 5 in shots, and that's the final action," David Nikolic noted.  "We had four corner kicks to their one.  We were the fitter team and had more bodies, but we could have done more.  In the last action, our last decisions weren't right and we got punished for it."

Scoring Summary

• The only goal was scored off a restart.  The Flames were flagged offside near midfield, and the Blue Demon free kick was taken toward the box, and then crossed to a diving Susie Soderstrom, whose head connected and put the ball into the net.

UIC was sharp on both ends of the field throughout the first half, creating their own chances and stepping up to stop DePaul's.  Frankie Frericks initiated action into the box that resulted in a save, and later Yulexi Diaz sent a promising pass toward Makena Shaw, only for the keeper to break it up.

The best opportunities of the first half came late, and were both in favor of UIC.  Jazzy Ellis struck the post with a quality shot, and a last-second corner kick was nodded toward the post where a diving save was made as the clock struck 0:00.  Despite the late flurry, Nikolic changed tactics at the break and was rewarded for the second straight match.  "We switched form again in the second half and were clearly better," he said, adding, "we have to look at doing that right away."

The chances continued to come after halftime.  Madison Ferris played Ellis into the box, forcing the keeper to dive for the ball.  Kaysey Castro played a long ball ahead to Sophia Jaime, whose cross into the box looked promising until DePaul knocked it out.  After DePaul's 51^st-minute goal, Hannah Gryzik was stoned on a point-blank shot that represented UIC's best chance to draw even.

"They made a shot that Sara [Sanabria] had no chance on," Nikolic stated.  "There are things we have to look at and make corrections.  Give DePaul credit; they played with one sub and made the most of their opportunities."

Lightning in the area stopped the match with 4:15 remaining, and when the storm did not clear within three hours of the start of the match, the contest was called per NCAA rules.  It was the second straight match between the crosstown rivals that was impacted by weather.

"It's a quiet locker room.  They realized there was an opportunity missed," Nikolic said.  "But at the same time we also realize that the team is going in the right direction.  We have quality, we have to figure out a way to do the right things at the right times."

The Flames will host Eastern Illinois Sunday afternoon.