Flames Defeat Milwaukee 3-1 to Advance to Postseason

November 5, 2011

CHICAGO -On senior night at Flames Field, those playing their final home match took it upon themselves to make sure UIC didn't leave the confines without a berth in the postseason. Senior reserve Craig Krzyskowski scored two goals, while classmates Nermin Dautovic and Eric Fraziereach added an assist, leading to a 3-1 win over Milwaukee, and propelling the Flames into next week's Horizon League Men's Soccer Tournament.

With the win, UIC finishes the regular season with a 9-6-3 (3-4-1 Horizon) record, and will enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed. The Flames will travel to No. 4 Green Bay on Tuesday; game time is yet to be determined. Milwaukee ends the year with a 6-10-2 mark (2-4-2) and was eliminated from postseason contention.

"This team has battled all year long, even though we encountered a tough stretch in the last 12-to-14 days," said head coach Sean Phillips. "Tonight, I think our guys re-discovered some of the things that we working for us back in September. I think there was something extra about it, being senior night.

"Eric (Frazier) found Craig (Krzyskowski) for the first goal, and then Nermin (Dautovic) tallies the assist off the corner kick on our second goal. Craig drops back to the center back position and then finds the back of the net to finish the game off. This is our seniors' last run; everyone else has another crack at it next year. All the credit goes to our seniors tonight."

Krzyskowski, who started the second half, got the Flames on the scoreboard in the 57th minute (56:28), playing a ball from Frazier on 2 vs. 1 opportunity - he beat Milwaukee goalkeeper John Shakon to the near post, scoring his second goal of the season.

Ivan Stanisavljevic scored the eventual game-winner just over five minutes later (61:47), scoring off a corner kick by Dautovic - it marked Stanisavljevic's league-leading 10th goal of the season, including his third game-winning goal. Dautovic tallied his second assist of the campaign in his final game at Flames Field.

Milwaukee sliced the lead in half (2-1) in the 77th minute (76:05), after James Ashcroft received the ball from 25 yards out, and beat UIC goalkeeper Piotr Kikolski. UIC then added insurance at the 81:07 mark, with Krzyskowski scoring his second goal of the match. He finished top shelf after an opportunistic cross from Slobodan Aleksov, who was subbed into the game to replace Dautovic.

Milwaukee held a 15-9 advantage in the shots department, but Kikolski turned away four of those shots, as he collected his ninth win of the season. Frazier attempted a team-high three shots for UIC, while Krzyskowski and Stanisavljevic each took two. Keegan Ziada attempted a team-high three shots for Milwaukee.

"We found a way to win tonight, and hopefully that springs us forward," Phillips said. "Playing at Green Bay is going to be no easy task. We've been in this position before; we were in a similar situation in 2007, and found a way. Hopefully we have some of that same strength as we enter the postseason."

Stay tuned to UICFlames.com and HorizonLeague.com for the latest updates surrounding the Horizon League Tournament.

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