A goal on either side of halftime helped lift UIC to a 2-0 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on Monday night (Sept. 12) at the NIU Soccer Complex. The setback snapped a 12-match home unbeaten streak for the Huskies as they lost at home for the first time since April 11, 2021, against West Virginia.
"We created a lot of good opportunities, we just weren't clinical in the penalty area," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "Yesterday at training it looked really sharp and good, so I thought if we got the ball in there we would have a chance at success but today we just haven't executed on some of the simple things."
The visiting Flames opened the scoring in the 14th minute as Ezau Millan played a first-time ball into the run of Josh Torres inside the box. With NIU goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) coming off his line, Torres touched it on to Christian Crespo who finished from the top of the six to give the visitors the early lead.
NIU (2-2-2) had an excellent chance to equalize in the 27th minute as Patrick Coleman (Antioch, Ill./Notre Dame) backheeled a ball to Angel Rodriguez (Elgin, Ill./Ignite Christian Academy) who found Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) on the penalty spot, but Banuelos rifled his shot off the crossbar.
Ten minutes later, Rodriguez slipped another ball into the feet of Banuelos whose shot from the top of the 18 was smothered by UIC goalkeeper Andres Vasquez.
Five minutes later, Banuelos had another opportunity off another feed from Rodriguez, but a Flame defender blocked the shot attempt.
In the 41st minute, Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary) had a chance from the corner of the box that was held by Vasquez.
Just before halftime, NIU had a free kick in a dangerous position wide left of goal. Miguel Maynez Jr. (El Paso, Texas/New Mexico) whipped a dangerous ball into the six-yard box that was deflected away by UIC and the Flames nearly caught the Huskies on the counter as Sanchez made an excellent save on a shot by Aaron Nguyen as the Flames took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Two minutes after halftime, UIC (2-2-1) did catch the Huskies on the counter as NIU lost possession in its attacking third and the pace of Andres Moreno helped him get in behind the Huskie backline. Moreno fired a shot from the top of the box past Sanchez to double the lead for the visitors.
Sanchez made another save in the 73rd minute on a shot by Preston Huitron to keep the Huskies close but NIU was unable to find a goal on the other end.
Vasquez finished with three saves to collect the clean sheet for UIC, Sanchez also made three saves for NIU.
"We gave up two big chances that (UIC) scored on and there was another one where Martin (Sanchez) came up big for us," said Swan. "But at the other end, when we created chances, I don't know if their 'keeper had to make big saves, we just failed to capitalize when we got there, so a very frustrating night, especially in front of goal."
The Huskies will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 17, when they travel to Western Illinois. Kickoff against the Leathernecks is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up