THURSDAY'S SCORES
@UIC 5,
Western Illinois 3
Loyola Chicago 2,
@SIUE 1
UIC 5, WESTERN ILLINOIS 3
CHICAGO - Western Illinois men's soccer put together one of its strongest offensive outings of the season but fell 5-3 on the road at UIC Thursday night.
The Flames jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes before the Leathernecks responded. Liam Gainey converted a penalty kick in the 28th minute to cut the deficit in half, giving WIU momentum heading into the break.
UIC extended its lead early in the second half with three straight goals, but the Leathernecks continued to push forward. Gainey struck again in the 76th minute, finishing a setup from LeeviSwearengen and Ty Duax. Less than 10 minutes later, Fernando Adrados Castro added his first goal of the season off an assist from Oscar Olingdahl to bring the score to 5-3.
WIU tallied 15 shots, including six on goal, while goalkeeper Micah Ramirez finished with three saves. Gainey led the attack with two goals on six shots.
Western Illinois moves to 2-5 on the season.
LOYOLA CHICAGO 2, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Loyola scored a pair of goals less than three minutes apart late in the second half to score a 2-1 come-from-behind win over SIUE men's soccer Thursday at Korte Stadium.
The Cougars, who finished the game with 10 men, fell to 1-4-0. It's the first time SIUE has lost two in a row at home since October 2022.
Loyola improved to 2-1-3.
The Cougars got the scoring started in the final seconds of the first half when Archie McDonnell sent a long pass into the penalty area. Evan Howard settled, turned and scored inside the near post for his fourth goal of the year with just 26 seconds to play in the half. The goal also was his fourth in as many games.
SIUE came out firing to start the second half and had several chances turned away, then in the 61st minute appeared to have a break when Loyola goalkeeper Gabe Velasco raced out of the box and upended an on-rushing Howard.
After review, Velasco was given a yellow card and the Cougars awarded a free kick. Carles Zomeño hit a hard drive on goal, which was saved by Velasco. Ben Perkins picked off the rebound, but his shot, went just wide instead hitting the side of the net.
Luka Ivancic tied the game for Loyola in the 76th minute when he headed home after a short cross from Petar Janjic.
Less than two minutes later, McDonnell was issued a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity, when he committed a foul after a giveaway just outside the box.
Ben Bischoff scored the game winner for the Ramblers when he redirected a cross from Benji Chavarria at the near post in the 78th minute.
SIUE outshot Loyola 15-11 for the game. The Cougars had a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal.