UIC controlled the match, and authored the most dangerous chances throughout, but settled for a scoreless draw with Belmont Thursday night in Nashville.

Though the Flames' 11 shots were their lowest output in their last five matches, the proportion of quality chances was higher than in outings where they took upwards of 20 shots.  They put five shots on goal, and had another go off the post in the final seconds.

Lauren Keiser made three saves in posting her third shutout of the season, and second in Valley play.  UIC improved to 1-1-1 in the conference.

The Flames got out on the front foot thanks in large part to Makena Shaw.  She played into the box after Frankie Frericks made a nice steal in UIC's offensive end, and later had a nice connection with Jelena Zbiljic, whose shot was ticketed for the back of the net before the keeper tipped it off the crossbar.  Shaw took a straight-on shot of her own a little later, which was also saved.

"We did a much better job of ball-winning and being aggressive, and wanting the ball turned things for us in a good direction," David Nikolic said.  "We want to win games; we want to get three points.  But tonight, it would have been more cruel to go to overtime and lose.  We deserved at least a point.  We don't know how important this point will be but we do know that we need all we can get.

"We'll take a point on the road."


 
Fresh legs brought additional chances later in the first half.  Hannah Gryzik made a nice tackle to win the ball, and Sophia Jaime made winning individual moves to get herself in position to take a shot that went just wide, both within five minutes of checking in.  Keiser came off her line to snuff out a threat at the half hour mark, but was not required to make her first save until the final nine seconds of the first half.

In the second half, the Flames started to threaten via set pieces.  Eight of their season high nine corner kicks came after the break.  A 52^nd-minute corner kick was headed on and deflected away from the net, and Shaw turned a free kick into a shot that had to be saved by a back and turned into another corner.

"Especially in the second half, we were more complete.  We attacked spaces that we felt we could have success," Nikolic said, continuing, "we had eight corners because of attacking those wide spaces."  He highlighted the play of Riley Collett, whose play down the sideline created several corners.

One of the team's best instances of buildup came earlier in the second half when Jelena Zbiljic led Megan Bowman into the box, where she took one of her game high four shots from the spot.  Bowman figured again in the final seconds, when she nearly won the game for the Flames.  Play after a corner kick gave UIC a free kick from just past the top of the box.  That offering went off Bowman's head and then off the left post, missing by just inches.

Chopper Carriere returned to the lineup for the first time in a month.  Nikolic credited her for fitting in and moving people around on the back line.  "The energy and amount of people we rotated in in the second half elevated us and got us what we needed," he said.  "Our depth is improving.  Valley games are not easy.  We have to be prepared to play for 90 minutes."

The Flames will stay in Nashville for the weekend until they make the journey to Murray, Kentucky for a Sunday afternoon match against Murray State.