Cleveland State scored two second-half goals, both by Jannis Schmidt, to secure a come-from-behind 2-1 win over UIC at Flames Field Monday night.  Brian Perez got the Flames on the board in the 24^th minute, but Schmidt's brace was too much, too late for the Flames to overcome.
 
Scoring Summary

• Perez scored his first goal of the season after taking a centralizing pass from Eddie Garcia and then made a nice move in the box to get the keeper just off balance enough to send a shot to the back of the net.
• Schmidt scored a dazzling goal for the equalizer, leaping and spinning in midair to get his foot on the pass from Nick McCausland for a shot that left Isaac Carvajal helpless.
• In the 83^rd minute, just nine minutes after his first, Schmidt netted the game-winner after dribbling through traffic to set up a shot from 12 yards away.

A back-and-forth match saw both teams create chances, make big defensive plays, and battle with an intensity worthy of the 45^th meeting of the long-time rivals.

Christian Crespo and Josh Torres generated offense for the Flames in the first 20 minutes.  Crespo served a free kick into the box, and later fed Torres on the run, and Torres had a shot of his own with some pace that stayed wide.  But for all the attacking moments that gave the crowd some hope, the biggest play of the early stages was a save by Juan Gutierrez after a Viking deked Carvajal to the ground and took an open shot.  The Flames survived two corner kicks after that moment, and then flipped the field and scored their first goal of the season.

"I thought we had a really good first half," Sean Phillips said.  "Cleveland State is a really talented attacking team, and they're going to get chances.  You have to have your goalkeeper make some saves and your defenders make good plays and we did that in the first half.  I thought it was a fair result for the 1-0 lead at halftime."

Both sides of the ball continued to be sharp at the onset of the second half.  Carvajal made two nice saves in a minute's span, the first of which was a leaping punch over the bar.  Garcia initiated some offense around the hour mark, playing ahead in a sequence that resulted in UIC's most dangerous corner kick of the match with a Pau Mateo header tipped away from the goal. 

Cleveland State started to assert themselves around the 70^th minute with a flurry of through balls, none of which connected with an upfield runner.  Their passes became sharper, though Schmidt had to elevate to corral the pass that became his first goal.  Schmidt was played ahead from midfield with an on-the-money pass that allowed him to run into the box and draw Carvajal off his line, creating an opening for his second goal.

"As the second half went on, they wore us down and we couldn't find that second goal to make it 2-0," Phillips commented.  "Against a team like Cleveland State, you give up that goal late and then the momentum shifts.  I think our guys fought and they gave everything they had.  Cleveland State's front four is very talented and they caused some problems for our midfield and back line.  They deserved the two goals they got."

Carvajal finished the match with five saves.  He was one of nine Flames to make a return appearance in the starting lineup.  Paul Brauckmann and Andres Lemus each started for the first time.  Torres had a team-high three shots.  Cleveland State outshot UIC 17-12, and only two of UIC's attempts were on goal.  The Flames' nine corner kicks were the team's most since also taking nine against Robert Morris last October 9.

The Flames will return to action next Monday against crosstown rival Loyola.  Phillips will look for continued improvement between now and then.  "We have to find a way to do things a little bit better.  Against Kentucky we had a good 45, and I thought here we had a good 60, 65 minutes and then right at that last part of the game it was difficult.  Cleveland State found a way to get a couple of goals late and we haven't been able to get that ourselves."

Monday's match at Flames Field will start at 7 p.m.