Men’s soccer falls at Loyola
Abel Guzman scored a goal for the Flames in an exhibition match Saturday. The team heads to Washington this week. (Photo: Steve Woltmann)
The men’s soccer team fell short in its final exhibition game Saturday in a 3-1 loss to Loyola at the Loyola Soccer Park. Abel Guzman scored the lone goal for the Flames late in the game with the assist from Sasha Simon.
UIC produced 10 shots on the night with two attempts reaching on goal, while the Ramblers took a five shots but had all of them on target. Seven players contributed to the shot total, with Max Todd, Jose Fuentes and Nestor Garcia garnering two apiece.
Andrew Putna played the complete game in goal and made two saves.
The night started off in favor of the Flames as Fuentes put a shot on goal in the sixth minute and followed it with another attempt three minutes later that went wide. Todd capped the sequence with a chance in the 12th minute that also went wide. UIC was held without a shot until the 40th minute when Oscar Gonzalez went off target.
Loyola put the ball in the back of the net on its first shot of the game in the 16th minute. Their next shot came in the 27th minute with a header off a corner kick that forced Putna to make the stop. His final save of the night came 12 minutes later.
The Ramblers were not presented with many opportunities, but they made it count when it mattered as their two shots in the second half resulted in goals. The Flames scatted four shots from Todd, Garcia (2) and Cristian Sanchez over the first 30 minutes of the second half, but all attempts were blocked.
In the 85th minute, UIC was positioned with a corner kick taken by Yuri Domiciano. The ball made its way to Simon, then dished off to Guzman, who ripped the shot from the top of the 18 into the back of the net. Simon had the final shot of the game but it went high.
The Flames begin preparations for the start of the regular season. The team team travels to Spokane, Washington, to take on San Diego State Friday and Gonzaga Sunday in a tournament hosted by the Bulldogs.
