San Francisco with chances, unable to capitalize against UIC

Sunday, August 31

Chicago, IL

11 a.m.

University of San Francisco

1-1-0

Illinois-Chicago

2-0-0

San Francisco

UIC

Photo by: David Bush

San Francisco with chances, unable to capitalize against UIC

8/31/2014 6:01:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

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CHICAGO, Ill.—The Dons were got enough shots off but unable to punch in the equalizer as they fell behind in the first half and dropped their weekend finale 1-0 to Illinois-Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

"It was a tough one to swallow. We played really well, just couldn't score," San Francisco head coach Eddie Soto said. "We definitely had changes to tie it and couldn't capitalize."

After falling behind in the 22nd minute when UIC's Manny Chavez found Jesus Torres for his second of the season and gave the Flames a 1-0 lead, the Dons battled back and continued to pelt UIC goalie Andrew Putna and got off 14 shots with seven on goal.

San Francisco (1-1-0) got a great look on a run by Miguel Aguilar in the 27th minute when Putna came out to meet Aguilar's shot and deflected it away to keep UIC up by one.

It stayed that way going into the second half and the Dons continued to put pressure on the Flames. In the 77th minute, Bryce Kaminski found some space and headed the ball towards the goal but Putna made another diving save to keep San Francisco off the board.

"[Putna] made two great saves, one on Bryce [Kaminski]'s header and another on a breakway by Miguel [Aguilar]," Soto said. "We were peppering them but it just wouldn't go in. We did everything right except find the goal."

USF took 14 shots and put seven of them on goal. Aguilar took four shots with two on goal. Danny Kirkland, who scored the game-winner on Friday, put two of his three shots on goal.

On the flip side, UIC only got three shots on goal in the match and took a total of eight shots. Dons goalie Chase Hauser recorded two saves in the match.

This came only two days after the Dons had defeated No. 21 Wisconsin on the road but despite a bit of a letdown, Soto was happy to see the way his team performed during the first weekend.

"We had a lot of good moments this weekend," Soto said. "I'm very pleased with how we played each game."

The Dons hit the pitch again on Friday at Soto's alma mater Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.