NASHVILLE – UIC cashed in on some early pressure with a 10th-minute own goal and made it stand up the rest of the way for a 1-0 victory at Belmont in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park in Nashville. With the victory, the fifth-seeded Flames will move on to face No. 1 seed Evansville in the semifinals on Wednesday night.
Junior midfielder and MVC Player/Forward of the Year Edouard Nys started the decisive play with a well-weighted ball on an overlap down the left flank to junior defender Sota Nakazono. The Japanese backliner delivered an equally sharp cross towards the left post and with All-MVC junior midfielder Darrell Turcios crashing, the Belmont defense could do little more than turn the ball into its own net.
From there, UIC (10-2-5) played solidly on both ends of the pitch, limiting the Bruins' chances until the latter half of the second stanza when the hosts threw the kitchen sink at the Flames. When it mattered, senior goalkeeper Owen Cornell stood on his head (or more specifically, from his back), making a sensational one-hand tip save while prone on the goal line to preserve UIC's fifth shutout of the season. Cornell finished with four saves, as the Flames advance to the MVC semifinals for the second time in the past three years.
The full box score and play-by-play recap from Sunday's win at Belmont can be found here.
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
UP NEXT
UIC will travel to top-seeded Evansville on Wednesday night for its MVC semifinal. Kickoff from Arad McCutchan Stadium is slated for 6 p.m. (CT) with ESPN+ carrying the match and live stats available through UICFlames.com. The complete MVC Tournament bracket and Championship Central page can be found HERE.
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For more information on UIC men's soccer, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com or follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_MSOC and @UICFlames) and on Instagram (@uic_msoc and @uicflames).
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