CHICAGO, Ill. - The Milwaukee men's soccer team played a very strong game defensively, but a lone goal on a header off a corner kick late in the first half sent UIC to the 1-0 victory Saturday night at Flames Field.
 
The Panthers (1-3, 0-1 Horizon League) carried the majority of the possession all evening against the Flames (1-3-1, 1-0 Horizon League), but were not able to convert any chances into the back of the net.
 
"We should have scored a couple goals offensively," Milwaukee head coach Kris Kelderman said. "We had a couple really good looks with headers on some restarts. Not that there were a lot of chances for either team, but we had enough good chances where we should at least have had a tie in that game. At the end of the day, the goal we gave up was an error in our box. And that is an area of the game that we have to get better at – plain and simple."
 
The contest did not feature much flow to it at all, stopped and started by a grand total of 65 foul calls on the night, 28 of which came against UWM.
 
"The way the game was played made it very difficult for either team to get any flow and to get anything going," Kelderman said. "Everyone is very frustrated, which is good as long as you can channel that in the right direction. We have to keep plugging away and move forward. It's all we can do."
 
The teams spent the majority of the first half in a midfield battle, recording a total of six shots over the first 45 minutes. In fact, the first shot of the game of any type did not come until the 23^rd minute.
 
The difference-maker came at the 36:48 mark, when Oscar Rivero headed in Max Todd's corner kick for the lone goal of the night.
 
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sam Glass made his collegiate debut and played very well, making a pair of saves in his first game-action in a Panther uniform.
 
The teams tallied 14 total shots in the match, with UIC holding the slight 8-to-6 shot advantage overall. Each squad put three on frame and the Flames earned four of the seven corner kicks.
 
Six different players tallied shots for the Panthers, with Reid Stevenson, Francesco Saporito and Ben Krolczyk accounting for the trio of attempts on goal.
 
One of the biggest games of the season is up next, with the "Milwaukee Cup" on the line when the team heads to Valley Fields to take on Marquette Wednesday evening. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and the city rivalry will feature a live broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.