Nov. 30, 2008

Box Score

Cary, N.C.- The UIC men's soccer team held a late 2-1 lead and stood just over three minutes away from a return trip to the NCAA Elite Eight, but 13th-seeded North Carolina scored the equalizer in the final minutes of regulation and tallied the golden goal in the 95th minute to send the Flames to a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss in the third round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship at a soggy WakeMed Soccer Park on Sunday night.

The Flames finish the 2008 season 12-4-6, concluding the year with their second straight trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 and third consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. North Carolina (13-7-1) advances to meet Northwestern in the quarterfinals on Dec. 6.

"First of all I would like to congratulate [UNC head coach] Elmar [Bolowich] and his team," said UIC head coach John Trask. "UNC is a good team. You can see why their program has won a national championship.

"I thought we gave a tremendous effort tonight," said Trask. "I have nothing to be ashamed about, and none of our players have anything to be ashamed about. It was a tremendous performance. We were a few minutes away from winning it with our reserve goalkeeper, and that's a compliment to the guys psychologically and to the type of kids we have in this program.

"We'll be back," Trask concluded. "We'll be back."

UIC was without the services of Hermann Trophy semifinalist Jovan Bubonja between the posts after the junior goalkeeper suffered a clavicle injury in training. Redshirt freshman Taylor Kelliher made his first collegiate start in goal, registering six key saves.

Baggio Husidic's unassisted laser strike from a few yards beyond the top of the box in the 71st minute broke a 1-1 tie, and the Flames possessed the one-goal advantage for the remainder of the second half until a failed clearance in the UIC box with 3:28 left allowed North Carolina's Michael Callahan to knock in the match-knotting goal into the lower right corner.

Five minutes into overtime it was Garry Lewis' header into the net on an assist from Brian Shriver that sealed the match for UNC.

The Flames lit the scoreboard first on their first goal of the 2008 tournament. Charlie Trout sent in a sharp corner kick in the 19th minute, and Matt Spiess leaped above the scrum in the box to snap a headball into the right corner for the early 1-0 advantage for the visiting side.

That lead did not last long, as the Tar Heels struck two minutes later when Kirk Urso corralled a Shriver cross from almost 10 yards in front of goal and kicked in an untouched ball past an empty left side.

After the Tar Heels attacked with great frequency in the early moments of the match, the Flames proved to be more possessive and aggressive on the UNC side of the park throughout the heart of the contest. That offensive display by the UIC side paid off when Moriba Diallo's run up the left flank resulted in a great shot attempt that was punched out by UNC keeper Brooks Haggerty and back toward the top of the box, where a North Carolina defender whiffed on a clearance attempt and allowed the ball to bounce to the boots of Husidic, who unfurled a rocket that was only stopped when it reached the back of the net.

UIC turned away numerous Tar Heel attacks on target thanks to a variety of stellar defensive plays by Kelliher and the entire backline. Regulation wound down and the Flames' chances of advancing to the Elite Eight appeared to be improving by the second with every clearance, but the hosts' late flurry eventually resulted in a game-tying goal when the Flames were unable to get a ball out of the right side of the box to allow Callahan a good look at the corner to give the Heels new life.

The match would head into an extra session, which was preceded by a downpour of rain. That did not stop the offensive push by either side on the slippery pitch, as a pair of bending free kicks by Trout that were on their way toward goal proved to be dangerous near-misses.

But the contest ended on the wrong side of the field for the Flames, as North Carolina countered UIC's early overtime attack and Lewis used his noggin on Shriver's left-side cross for a game-ending goal that appeared to initially nick off of a defender.

Trask praised his class of seniors for their work in getting UIC to three straight NCAA tournaments and advancing in every one of those postseason appearances.

"Tremendous compliments to Pat McMahon, Dan Simek and Alen Husidic for their hard work and contributions in laying the foundation for this program," said Trask. "To see what these young men have done for UIC and how far they have come has been truly special."

The match was pushed back to 6 p.m. Eastern from its original start time of 1 p.m. Eastern and moved from North Carolina's Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary after 18 straight hours of rain caused the officials to deem UNC's pitch unplayable.