CHICAGO – The UIC women's soccer team announced its schedule for the 2023 regular season Monday morning.
The Flames will play 17 regular season matches in 2023, along with three exhibition contests. UIC will host eight regular season matches at Flames Field, including five Missouri Valley Conference contests.
"Flames Field is a special place," said Head Coach David Nikolic. "We're going to make it the toughest venue for all our opponents to play."
UIC will open 2023 with a home exhibition versus Northwestern on Aug. 6 at Flames Field. The Wildcats advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2022 and finished the season ranked No. 11 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. The Flames will complete their exhibition schedule with road scrimmages at Central Michigan (Aug. 10) and Eastern Illinois (Aug. 13).
UIC will open the regular season on Thursday Aug. 17, hosting Toledo at Flames Field. This will be the third time the Flames will face the Rockets and the first since 2019. The team will then head on the road for its first away match of the season, traveling to Wisconsin to take on the Badgers. This will be the first time the two programs have faced each other on the pitch and UIC's sixth regular season match all-time against a Big Ten school. UIC closes out the month of August with a road contest at Miami (OH) on Aug. 27 and a home match against Marquette (Aug. 31).
"It has always been our goal to compete at the highest level, and playing at Wisconsin allows us to face a Big Ten team," said Nikolic. "Facing Northwestern in the exhibition season helps us prepare for the Valley in our second year."
The Flames start September with two road competitions; a contest at Kansas City (Sep. 3), followed by a match against crosstown opponent DePaul (Sep. 7). The team wraps up non-conference action on Sep. 10, hosting Maine. The home contest will be the program's first match against an America East Conference school.
Nikolic adds, "Bringing in an opponent like Maine will benefit our team and, hopefully, expose them to a slightly different style of soccer that is characteristic of the East Coast."
The Flames will open Missouri Valley Conference play on Sep. 17, traveling to Carbondale to take on SIU. Four days later the team travels to UNI for a midweek contest against the Panthers (Sep. 21) before hosting Drake at Flames Field on Sep. 24. UIC finishes its September slate with a home match against Murray State (Sep. 28).
The Flames continue conference competition to start October with a home match against 2022 MVC Tournament champion Missouri State (Oct. 1), before hitting the road for a two-match road trip in Indiana against Indiana State (Oct. 5) and Evansville (Oct. 8).
UIC travels to Bloomington, Ill. to play Illinois State (Oct. 19) for the team's final road contest of the regular season. The team finishes up the regular season with a home contest against reigning MVC regular season champion Valparaiso (Oct. 22).
The 2023 MVC Women's Soccer Championship will be held over two weekends, starting Thursday Oct. 26 with opening round action. The eight-team tournament will be conducted at sites of the higher seeds with eight of the 11 teams qualifying for the field. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will have byes in the first two rounds. The semifinals (Nov. 2) and finals (Nov. 5) will take place at the site of the No. 1 seed. 2023 will be the Flames' second season competing MVC.
The full 2023 UIC women's soccer schedule is below.
Aug. 6 Northwestern (Exhibition)
Aug. 10 @ Central Michigan (Exhibition)
Aug. 13 @ Eastern Illinois (Exhibition)
Aug. 17 Toledo
Aug. 20 @ Wisconsin
Aug. 27 @ Miami (OH)
Aug. 31 Marquette
Sep. 3 @ UMKC
Sep. 7 @ DePaul
Sep. 10 Maine
Sep. 17 @ SIU*
Sep. 21 @ UNI*
Sep. 24 Drake*
Sep. 28 Murray State*
Oct. 1 Missouri State*
Oct. 5 @ Indiana State*
Oct. 8 @ Evansville*
Oct. 15 Belmont*
Oct. 19 @ Illinois State*
Oct. 22 Valparaiso*
Oct. 26 MVC Opening Round
Oct. 29 MVC Quarterfinals
Nov. 2 MVC Semifinals
Nov. 5 MVC Championship
* Missouri Valley Conference match
