CHICAGO — The UIC men's soccer team spent much of Wednesday night's regular-season finale camped in the attacking third, but Bowling Green capitalized on its lone shot on goal in the first half, then settled into a counterattack posture the rest of the night to keep the Flames at bay and take a 1-0 Missouri Valley Conference win at Flames Field.
Along with its sizable edge in time of possession, UIC (4-7-4, 1-3-2 MVC) had several prime scoring chances during the evening, including an early breakaway by junior midfielder Sebastian Khoury in the second minute, but his shot just sailed wide of the left post. However, after largely defending its own end for most of the opening half hour, Bowling Green (9-6-2, 5-1-0) scored on its first true foray into Flames' territory, heading home a cross on the doorstep in the 28th minute.
UIC would not go quietly and peppered the Falcons' net throughout the second half, including a remarkable 11 shots in the final 14 minutes. Khoury had two more prime chances, one in the 80th minute, when he found space on the back door near the left post, but put his shot into the outside netting. In the 86th minute, he got loose near the top of the box for a wicked blast that took a deflection and had the BGSU keeper initially going the wrong way, but he recovered to dive back and tip the ball wide left.
UIC outshot the Falcons, 27-9, but BGSU had a slim 7-5 advantage in shots on goal. The Flames also earned an 8-2 edge on corner kicks during the contest. Graduate student goalkeeper Owen Cornell made six saves between the pipes for UIC, including an important diving stop on a free kick in the 76th minute to keep the hosts in contention.
The full box score and play-by-play recap from Wednesday's match vs. Bowling Green can be found here.
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Flames' 27 shots tied their season high, previously set against Western Illinois (Sept. 10) and matched against Bradley (Sept. 25).
- Khoury had a career-high nine shots on Wednesday (previous high was six at Northern Illinois on Aug. 30, 2026).
- Khoury's nine shots were the most by a UIC player in a single match since Nov. 5, 2025, when future MLS SuperDraft selection (and North Texas SC standout) Edouard Nys rang up 12 shots in a 2-1 win over Western Michigan at Flames Field.
- Senior defender Hector Gil tied his career high with four shots (also on Sept. 11, 2025, vs. Western Illinois).
- Cornell's six saves were one off his career high set twice this season (Sept. 13 vs. Loyola and Oct. 3 at Western Michigan).
- This marks the first time UIC has been shut out in back-to-back matches since Oct. 18-26, 2024.
- UIC is 1-4-1 all-time against Bowling Green, with a 1-1 record at Flames Field.
UP NEXT: BELMONT (MVC QUARTERFINAL)
UIC has earned the No. 5 seed for the 2026 MVC Tournament and will open postseason play with a quarterfinal match at Belmont on Saturday (Nov. 7) at 6 p.m. (CT) from E.S. Rose Park in Nashville — the match will be televised live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available through UICFlames.com.
Less than three weeks ago (Oct. 17), the Flames and Bruins played to a 2-2 draw in Nashville. This will mark the fourth consecutive time UIC and Belmont will play one another at E.S. Rose Park and it will be the fourth time in the schools' five-year MVC membership they have played in the Valley quarterfinals — 2022 (BEL 1-0 in Chicago), 2023 (UIC 2-1 in Chicago) and 2025 (UIC 1-0 in Nashville).
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).
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