Oct. 26, 2000

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. - On senior day at the University of Illinois at Chicago, it was only fitting that senior forward Eric Lukin (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) stole the show as he tallied his third career hat trick in leading the Flames to a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Western Illinois.

The Flames, who improve to 13-3-2 in their final tune-up before the MCC Tournament gets underway next Tuesday, trailed 2-0 just 23 minutes into the game as Western Illinois' leading scorers Justin Langan and Troy Markin each buried their eighth goals of the season.

Ten minutes later, however, UIC finally broke out for its first tally of the contest as Nick Dudziak (Bartlett, Ill./Elgin) set up Jakob Stasko (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way) for his 10th goal of the year at the 33:26 mark.

Less than two minutes later, Stasko was hauled down just outside the box, which resulted in a Western Illinois yellow card. Lukin took the indirect kick and hooked it into the left-hand side of the goal to knot the game at 2-2.

Lukin, however, was just getting started. Before the halftime horn would sound, the 1999 MCC Player of the Year would again find the back of the net as Maciek Gadziala (Chicago, Ill./Foreman) passed the ball up to Lukin, who slipped it under a diving Jacob Gutierrez into the right side of the goal.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Lukin complete his third career hat trick as Greg Chrisman (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) stole the ball just over midfield, dribbled it up and passed it off to Lukin, who threaded it into the left of the goal for his third score of the afternoon.

"What can I say about Eric Lukin - you blink or leave him alone for just a second and he's going to burn you," Head Coach Sasha Begovic said. "I really thought our whole team played well today once we overcame the 2-0 deficit. It was a very good tune-up for our team in preparation for the MCC Tournament."

The Flames used Chris Jamal (Palatine, Ill./Palatine), Scott Greene (Hartland, Mich./Hartland) and Jeff Kusiciel (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) in goal this afternoon with Greene picking up the victory, his fifth of the season.

UIC will have the weekend off to prepare for its MCC Tournament first round match-up next Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 1:00 p.m.. The Flames, who will find out Sunday who their first-round opponent will be, will have home field advantage throughout the post-season thanks to their first-place finish during the regular season.