Oct. 21, 2001

Final Stats

Chicago, Ill. - The 24th-ranked UIC soccer team was handed its first home loss of the season Sunday afternoon as the Wright State Raiders shocked the Flames for a 3-1 victory in Horizon League play. The defeat, UIC's first in its last 11 outings at Flames Field, also ended the Flames' 10-game unbeaten streak.

UIC (9-4-1, 3-1-1 Horizon League) came out quickly to take a 1-0 just 1:21 into the game. Dennis King (Colona, Ill./United Township) worked the ball over midfield and into the offensive zone before passing it down low to Patrick Grange (Albuquerque, NM/Albuquerque). Grange then fired a crossing pass directly in front of the goal, which was misplayed by Wright State goalkeeper J.R. Nelson, and reached a wide-open Jake Stasko (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way), who tapped it in for a 1-0 UIC lead.

The Raiders (9-4-1, 3-1-0 Horizon League), however, quickly knotted the game up at 1-1 when UIC defender Adam Jones (McKinney, Texas/McKinney) was called for a foul in the box, resulting in a Wright State penalty kick. Winston Marshall converted the shot at the 4:48 mark for his second goal of the season.

The Flames then caught a break in the 16th minute as Wright State's Isa Ar-Razi picked up a red card, resulting in his ejection from the game while giving UIC a one-man advantage for the remainder of the match.

After settling on a 1-1 tie at the half, the Flames could not take advantage of the extra attacker in the final period of play. King had UIC's best scoring chances midway through the half, but fired both wide-open shots high and over the goal.

Wright State kept the pressure on and in the 78th minute had its efforts pay off. After the Flames substituted for defenseman Jay DeMerit (Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port), who was shaken up just moments earlier, the Raiders collected a UIC defensive miscue just over mid-field and converted it into the game-winner. Ricky Strong set up Marshall for his second goal of the afternoon as he banked the ball off the near post and into the goal.

The Raiders, who were outshot by UIC, 14-11, then iced the game less than six minutes later as Strong put in his team-best eighth goal of the year. The three goals are the most UIC has given up at home since a 3-0 loss to Detroit during the 1997 campaign.

"We were out-played, out-run, out-hustled, out-everything," Head Coach Sasha Begovic said. "I tried to warn them that this is a very good team, but it wasn't enough."

Goalie Jeff Kusiciel (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) took the loss for the Flames despite making five saves. He falls to 9-4-1 for the year.

UIC will play its final regular-season home outing on Friday, Oct. 26, at 3:00 p.m. when it welcomes the Detroit Titans to Flames Field. It will be Senior Day as the Flames bid farewell to DeMerit, Kevin Brady (Elgin, Ill./St. Charles) and Jay Lindgren (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles).