NIU men’s soccer (2-8, 0-2 MVC) fell short of a comeback, losing in a 4-2 defeat against the University of Illinois Chicago Flames (5-4, 1-1 MVC).
NIU men’s soccer head coach Ryan Swan reflected on the match for the Huskies.
“It’s another one of these games where I thought for large spells of the game we were really good,” Swan said. “I think we’ve been undone by a team that exhibited better game management today. They scored three goals from set pieces today, which I think we were disappointed in the way that we conceded the set piece, but also how we defended them.”
An offside call killed early momentum for the Huskies when a ball sent past UIC redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski was taken off the board.
In the 21st minute, a foul was called against the Huskies, which led to a free kick for the Flames. Redshirt senior defender Jesus De Vicente sent the shot into the post, which bounced back to the feet of sophomore midfielder Darrell Turcios. Turcious sent the ball flying into the top right corner of the goal, past the hands of NIU sophomore goalkeeper Atahan Arslan.
In the 32nd minute, NIU found the back of the net off a corner kick, but the goal was called back due to a foul on the play.
The Flames struck again just after the half, when junior midfielder Rui Reis sent the ball flying into the high right corner of the goal in the 47th minute.
UIC freshman midfielder Max Aquino scored the third goal for the Flames when he found the lower right side of the goal in the 63rd minute.
In the 75th minute, NIU avoided the shutout when junior midfielder Jose Gomez found the top right of the goal to cut the Flames’ lead to two.
Just 25 seconds after NIU’s goal, graduate student forward Jack Finnegan scored to put UIC’s lead back to three.
A minute later, Gomez connected with senior forward Kevin Kelly who found his third goal of the season, putting the Flames up by two. Kelly created two shots for the Huskies in addition to the goal.
“I think there’s a real belief within the squad right now that we’re really close and we can get things right,” Swan said. I think the guys are really disappointed in the goals that they’ve conceded, but we created some really good chances. We had two free kicks in really good positions. We scored a goal from a corner kick that I’m still not entirely sure why it was disallowed. I think the belief is there that we can be in these games and how we’re just hoping that something clicks where things go our way.”
NIU was outshot 16-8 by UIC, while only creating 2 shots on goal. Arslan recorded 5 saves in his third match of the season.
Gomez looks forward to the match next weekend.
“We’ve been working hard and trying new things in training,” Gomez said. “Then we put them into practice on the field and we get it. We just need to work hard and build discipline on the pitch, build the chemistry between the team, and just work hard to get the result next week.
The Huskies continue conference play at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 against Missouri State University at the Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium in Springfield, Missouri. StatBroadcast will have live stats, and the match will be streamed on ESPN+.
