CHICAGO (Aug. 23, 2023) – The UIC men's soccer team is set to open the 2023 regular season this weekend, beginning with a quartet of home matches at Flames Field, starting with a Thursday night matchup against NJIT. The Flames will close out the opening weekend by hosting St. Thomas (MN) on Sunday afternoon. Both matches can be seen live on ESPN+, with Peter Ferreri on the call against NJIT Thursday, and Andres Tejeda calling all the action against St. Thomas on Sunday.

Hear from head coach @SPhillipsSoccer, as well as Paul Brauckmann and @juanito_gtz10 as we prepare for tonight's season opener!#FireUpFlames pic.twitter.com/vxqLtGrpTD

— UIC Men's Soccer (@UIC_MSOC) August 24, 2023

 
THURSDAY, AUG. 24
NJIT vs. UIC
7:00 p.m. CDT | Flames Field | Chicago, Ill.
ESPN+ | Live Stats
 
SUNDAY, AUG. 27
St. Thomas vs. UIC
1:00 p.m. CDT | Flames Field | Chicago, Ill.
ESPN+ | Live Stats
 
"All of our new faces have come in ready to work," commented head coach Sean Phillips, who enters his 14^th season leading the UIC men's soccer program. "This has made our preseason incredibly productive, and we learned a lot from our three exhibition matches leading up to the season."
 
The 2023 season presents a unique challenge for Phillips and the Flames, as UIC boasts 18 program newcomers, including seven true freshmen.
 
Joshua Torres, UIC's leading scorer from the 2022 season, returns for his junior year in Chicago to lead a potent offensive attack. Torres scored eight goals in 16 matches a year ago and added an assist for a total of 17 points on the year.
 
In net, Rutgers transfer Oren Asher rounds out a talented trio of goalkeepers, as he was the only goalkeeper in the nation to start the 2021 season with four consecutive shutouts. The Flames also return starting goalkeeper Andres Vasquez, a redshirt senior from Pittsburgh, Penn. Vasquez started 14 matches last season, amassing over 1,250 minutes. He posted a 1.57 goals against average, and made nearly 40 saves on the year.
 
"We start every season with the same goals," added Phillips about his team's aspirations in 2023. "We set out every year to win the regular season conference championship and position ourselves to make a run in the MVC Tournament, so that we can reach our ultimate goal of competing for NCAA Championships."
 
SCOUTING NJIT
The Highlanders and eighth-year head coach Fernando Barboto return 17 players ago, and welcomed 16 new faces to New Jersey. Barboto's son Maximus Barboto returns for his sophomore season in 2023, following a breakout freshman campaign that saw him named America East Rookie of the Year, as well as one of TopDrawerSoccer.com's Freshmen Top-100. Along with three America East All-Rookie Team selections, the Highlanders also return NJIT's career saves leader in the Division I era Samuel Reisgys, who has 235 career saves.
 
SCOUTING ST. THOMAS
The Tommies open the season with a two-match Chicago trip, as they will take on Northwestern Thursday night before heading to Flames Field for a Sunday matinee. St. Thomas posted a 3-12-2 record in 2022, with two of its three victories coming in Summit League play. Second-leading scorer from 2022 Carver Tierney returns for his sophomore campaign to lead the Tommies' offense.
 
For more information, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through Twitter (@UIC_MSOC and @UICFlames) and Instagram (@uic_msoc and @uicflames).