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Post by UICJohn on Sept 3, 2006 20:58:22 GMT -6
UIC defeats Bradley in OT. The story isn't even up yet, but if anybody was there and could give some notes on the game it would be greatly appreciated!
With wins over Bradley and St. Louis already, this is starting out to be a great year! Let's keep it up!
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Post by soccer fan on Sept 4, 2006 7:37:50 GMT -6
Another day, another victory?
Not quite that simple - this one almost didn't happen.
Bradley took it right to the Flames at the start of the game off a throw-in near the goal. I was sitting right behind where it happened, and when the ball left his hands, all you could see was a wall of red (Flames wear white at home) in front of the goal. The Flames were completely blocked out, and the ball went in the net. PERFECT choreography and perfect execution by Bradley. I'm sure the Flames will be studying the tape and working on that.
For the remainder of the first half, UIC seemed almost lethargic. The defense was (as always) outstanding, but the lack of offensive punch by UIC allowed Bradley to gang the midfield, negating UIC's advantage there. Pavle went down at the end of the half, and things weren't looking good.
I don't really know what happened next, but I can say that the Flames were VERY slow coming back from the locker room after halftime. Oh, hell, I'll speculate (this is the internet, so truth optional, right?): the coach read them the riot act. From that point forward, it was uptempo and attack, and we could here the Flames bench shouting all the way across the field.
They say that soccer is a defensive game, and while that is true, if you want to exploit a home field advantage you must get the crowd into the game. The effect of the relentless attack was a crowd response like I have never seen at a UIC soccer game. Some of the fans in the stands started stomping and singing and chanting UIC-UIC (Chicago Fire-style). The Cesar Zambrano section was there in numbers (god bless-em) and cheering and clapping. A conspicuous (due to his height) participant in the raucous cheering was a 6-9 forward from Serbia-Montenegro who shall remain nameless because both of them were at the game cheering on the Flames.
And with that level of crowd support, there was no denying UIC. When Cervantes scored the place exploded. Apparently the Bradley bench exploded, too, because somebody got ejected.
The overtime goal was really a thing of beauty. The Flames attacked in perfect formation, and with great passing and Husidic's professional-caliber feed to Tonci, set up a wide-open net. Bradley's goalie didn't stand a chance.
EVERYBODY got their money's worth last night.
And the only thing better than a thrilling come from behind victory is waking up and seeing the team ranked #18 in the country.
UIC - #18. I LIKE the sound of that.
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Post by Big D on Sept 4, 2006 9:08:34 GMT -6
Wow, excellent recap soccer fan. I had the score up on the gametracker and I thought for sure UIC was going down last night after they gave up an early goal and still hadn't scored at the 80th minute. But then I walked away to do something, came back, and they had tied it. And then shortly thereafter they were winning.
UIC is now ranked, huh? Number #18 is not too shabby. I believe UWM began the season ranked around #25. Where would we be had we beaten Depaul? We will have a chance to rise in the rankings by knocking off #9 UCSB next (although maybe their ranking has changed as well?) What's the link to see rankings?
Is Pavle Dundjer's injury serious? Will he be playing against UCSB?
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Post by UICJohn on Sept 4, 2006 9:31:13 GMT -6
I saw that the team was ranked by looking up the story on UICFlames.com. They have UIC ranked #18 in Soccer America. The website I usually check, and updates their rankings either today (Monday) or Tuesday is Collegesoccernews.com.
At least going from what UICFlames.com said, Pavle's injury is a mild leg injury. Hopefully, it is just that. It will be good that we finally get a few days to rest up before we face a huge test with Santa Barbara, who Soccer America has ranked #15. I mean, playing 3 games in 6 days is tough for any team.
As far as the crowd support, it's awesome to hear that we're getting fans there and not just that, but everyone is getting into it. I was very disappointed that I couldn't make it out to any of the games but the next home game against UWM I am making plans to get there.
Back to UCSB, this is going to be an incredible test. We have big wins against some big teams, and this one is the biggest this season. They didn't beat a ranked Akron team; they dismantled a ranked Akron team, 5-0. And they beat San Diego State the other day, another ranked team, 1-0. But hey, we shouldn't go there and play them scared. With the way we're playing, we should be putting fear in some other teams too. \
And how big does our win against St. Louis look now? In their tournament over the weekened, Saint Louis tied a ranked Notre Dame and beat a Top 10 UConn team 5-1.
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