|
Post by soccer fan on Sept 19, 2007 6:37:10 GMT -6
I think there were more than 300 students there. I've never seen so many Fury T-shirts in one place before. Not only that, but the Fury made one hell of a racket. I loved the way they were hounding Western's goalie.
What a great crowd...1032 in attendance! Is that a record for UIC soccer?
And it was a damned good game. With the exception of about 1/4 of the second half, UIC pretty much dominated. The score could have easily been 4 or 5 to nothing.
UIC still has a few rough edges. With all the new players (4 freshmen started) it is going to take a little time to them completely playing like a team. They have talent, but players who can come in their first season and play like seniors are extremely rare. But make no mistake about it - the future of this team is extremely bright, and the Flames well-positioned to be a powerhouse in the NCAA for the next several years. I also expect them to get a lot better as this season progresses, and if they can avoid further injuries, they should be capable of winning the Horizon and making a run in the tournament.
It was good to see Simek score again off the bench. Coach Trask likes to bring in fresh strikers near the ends of the halves, and that strategy has the effect of moving the game away from the Flame's goal.
Bottom line: great game, great crowd, great atmosphere.
|
|
|
Post by Big D on Sept 19, 2007 12:09:42 GMT -6
WOW! 1032 fans? How many would you estimate were WIU fans, or was it almost all UIC fans? Assuming the latter, this just goes to show what can happen when you're running a good program. It also shows how bad basketball is right now. The game I was at last year had no more than 4 or 5 Fury members attending.
Now comes a real tough stretch for UIC. Not sure if we'll be coming back with a very good record, but we'll see. Wish we had some more home games...
|
|
|
Post by soccer fan on Sept 19, 2007 13:30:43 GMT -6
The crowd was overwhelmingly UIC(>= 85%, based on the loudness of the cheers at the player introduction), and the Fury ultras were loud, obnoxious, and hounding Western's goalie for most of the game. Nice work, guys!
But I really don't think the increase in attendance at the soccer games has anything to do with the basketball program at all. In my opinion, it is due to the success of the program, the coach's ability to promote it, and the demographics of the neighborhood in the vicinity of Flames Field.
We are now talking 7000 or so people living within three blocks of the soccer field, with 3000+ of them students, and when the weather cooperates, like last night, coming out to a game is not a terribly hard sell.
|
|
|
Post by UICAndrew on Sept 19, 2007 19:11:51 GMT -6
i did just check back to last years HL tourney game vs. loyola and the attendance was counted at 1212....not sure what the attendance rankings are but that has to be up there in the top 2 or 3 i would guess.
|
|