BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Freshman midfielder Artem Grinblat opened the scoring for the UIC men's soccer team with a penalty kick goal in the 24th minute, but top-seeded Bowling Green responded with two goals of its own, the second coming less than three minutes into the second half as the Falcons edged the No. 5 seeded Flames, 2-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals on Wednesday night at Cochrane Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Grinblat, a member of the MVC All-Freshman Team, stepped to the penalty spot after a VAR review confirmed a Bowling Green handball in the box. Grinblat then converted his second PK in as many tries this season to put UIC (5-8-4) in front. However, eight minutes later, a tackle in the UIC penalty area that was initially judged to be clean was challenged and sent back to VAR just before a Flames' corner kick. After a lengthy review, VAR came away with a penalty for Bowling Green and the hosts equalized. They then took the lead on a goal in the 48th minute and kept UIC at bay the remainder of the evening, despite the Flames have numerous chances and holding sizable margins in percentage of possession, shots (23-14) and corner kicks (10-3) and an even total in shots on goal (7-7).
Graduate student goalkeeper Owen Cornell was credited with five saves in the UIC net.
The full box score and play-by-play recap from Wednesday's match at Bowling Green can be found here.
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- UIC was appearing in the MVC Tournament semifinals for the third time in four years. This was the Flames' second one-goal loss in the Valley semis, having also dropped a 2-1 decision at Missouri State in 2023.
- With Grinblat's conversion, UIC finished this season 4-of-5 on penalty kicks.
- This marked just the second time in nine matches this season UIC did not earn at least a point when scoring the opening goal (5-2-2 record).
- Of the Flames' 17 matches this season, 13 were decided by one goal, including the last four and eight of the final nine.
- Bowling Green is 5-1-1 all-time against UIC, including a 4-0-1 record in Northwest Ohio. This was the second time the teams were playing in the MVC Tournament (BGSU won 4-1 in the 2024 quarterfinals, also played at Cochrane Stadium).
FOLLOW THE FLAMES
For more information on UIC Athletics and UIC men's soccer, visit UICFlames.com. Fans can also follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_MSOC and @UICFlames) and Instagram (@uic_msoc and @uicflames).
Tweet #ChicagosCollegeTeam
