The grand opening and dedication ceremony for the new Flames Field will be held Saturday, in conjunction with UIC's Missouri Valley Conference opener against Drake, which begins at 7 p.m.

Both the ceremony and the match are free to attend.  All fans who attend the match will receive a commemorative ticket.  The ceremony will start at 5:30 p.m. and will feature remarks from Chancellor Javier Reyes, Athletic Director Michael Lipitz, and UIC men's and women's soccer head coaches Sean Phillips and David Nikolic.  The dignitaries will cut a ceremonial ribbon to officially open the facility.

UIC is riding a two-match winning streak into their first conference match as Missouri Valley members.  It is also the first Valley competition for any Flames team.  The Flames have won their last five conference openers that have been at home, and are 9-2-4 in conference openers dating back to 2006.

The Flames defeated Northern Illinois 2-0 on Monday, courtesy of goals from Christian Crespo and Andres Moreno, and a three-save performance by Andres Vasquez.  Vasquez has posted three straight shutouts and has not allowed a goal this season.  Offensively, UIC has spread the wealth with five different players accounting for the team's five total goals.

Drake has earned a result in each of its last three matches.  The Bulldogs are 2-1-2 overall, and are led by A.J. Franklin (3 goals, 1 assist) and Sam Thornton (2 goals, 1 assist).  Jonathan Burke has allowed an average of one goal per game and has saved 82.8% of the shots that targeted his net.

There is a bit of history between the now-conference mates.  UIC is 5-3 all-time against Drake, with their five wins coming consecutively between 2011 and 2016.  Drake won the last meeting, in 2018.

The match can be seen on ESPN3.