UIC advances to second round of NCAA men's soccer championship

Nov. 11, 2006

UIC 3, Western Illinois 0
Chicago, Ill. - Host UIC broke out of a scoring slump at the perfect time, scoring three goals to defeat Western Illinois in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship at Flames Field. The Flames improved to 13-2-5 on the year while WIU saw its season end at 15-8-0.

Cesar Zambrano opened the scoring at the 13:42 mark, heading home a Mike Giffin corner kick. Zambrano's attempt barely cleared the goal line to snap a 243-minute drought which included two overtime contests in the Horizon League Champinoship. Both teams had several scoring chances in a first half of end-to-end action, but Flames goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja and WIU netminder Stephen Paterson each posted three saves to keep the match at 1-0 at intermission.

The Flames stretched the margin to 2-0 in the 62nd minute when Eric Cervantes headed in a rebound past Paterson. Tonci Skroce led Cervantes on a breakaway and Paterson stopped Cervantes' first attempt but could not corral the rebound as Cervantes knocked the ball inside the right post for an insurance tally, his seventh goal of the year. Pavle Dundjer put the match out of reach at the 75:45 mark, collecting Brodey Simkins' service to hit the net for the eighth time this season.

The match pitted the nation's sixth-highest-scoring offense (WIU at 2.77 goals per match) versus the second-ranked defense (UIC at 0.38 goals allowed per contest). Only one school had registered more goals than the Leathernecks' 50 this year, but Bubonja anchored a defense which allowed only one shot in the second half and six for the match. UIC had 12 attempts and took all six corner kicks in the contest.

UIC's victory also insures a Horizon League team in the second round for the fifth consecutive year and sixth time in the past seven seasons. UIC advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2000 before UW=Milwaukee won opening-round matches in each of the last four national summits.

The Flames advance to the second round and will 12th-seeded Notre Dame on Wednesday evening. Match time is set for 7 p.m. Eastern time at Notre Dame, Ind.

Box Score

Northern Illinois 1, Loyola 0 (Overtime)
DeKalb, Ill. - Visiting Loyola was forced to play with only 10 players for more than 74 minutes in its first-ever NCAA Tournament match, a 1-0 overtime defeat on Saturday at Northern Illinois in DeKalb, Ill. The Horizon League champions finished their season11-8-2 while the Huskies set a single-season school for victories and improved to 15-4-1 heading into their second-round match at Indiana on Wednesday.

Forward Alex Jones set the tempo early for the Ramblers, nearly sneaking a header past the Huskie goal keeper for the opening score off a set piece by Keum Sung Kim. But the Jones header went wide and an early red card was issued to Loyola's Kevin Harrigan at 22:22, forcing Loyola to compete with 10 men for the remainder of the contest. Despite missing a consistent player in the backfield, the Rambler defense continued to play effectively, limiting the Huskies to only five shots on goal.

Loyola goal keeper Sean Bond was credited with four saves but could not come up with a fifth at the 97:34 mark in overtime when NIU's Justin McGrane headed in a ball from Kevin Woerner after a throw-in by Marcus McCarty.

The Dallas, Texas native finished the season 11-6-2 in net and capped his career with one of the most successful seasons for a goal keeper in Loyola history with a school single-season record nine shutouts, which lands him fifth on the career list. Bond finished sixth on Loyola's career saves list with 137.

Loyola suffered its first overtime defeat of the season. The Ramblers were 2-0-2 entering the match, including a tie at UIC in a Horizon League quarterfinal-round game.

Box Score