LOVES PARK, Ill. - The Robert Morris University men's soccer team dropped a Friday afternoon matchup against the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames 4-0 at the Indoor Sports Center.
The loss moves the Colonials to 1-3-1 (1-3-1 HL) on the season. Jon Faynik led Robert Morris with three total shots on the day.
"We learned a lot of lessons today," head coach Jason O'Keefe said. "UIC is a championship program, which we aspire to be. We will grow from this experience, recover and put our attention on NKU, another very good program who we play on Thursday.
The Flames generated chances early against RMU Friday in what was their first home game in two weeks.
Roberto Alonso's strike in the 6' just missed wide left before a dangerous looking volley from Nkusuwila Zulu two minutes later found its target, however Mike Zolnierczyk was well-positioned to make the save.
Another save from Zolnierczyk, this time on Aaron Nguyen, forced the keeper to be sharp again in the early going as RMU's attempt to pressure on the counter was thwarted by a pair of offsides calls.
RMU's defensive structure thwarted a dangerous looking bout of posession for UIC in the 29', getting into a number of passing lanes to disrupt the flow of attack and prevent UIC from earning a good look, however the Flames finally broke through in the 37' after Alonso finished off a nice passing sequence to end RMU's shutout streak at 267 minutes.
RMU looked for a response at the onset of the second half down 9-3 in shots but just 1-0 on the scoreboard.
An unfortunate break for the Colonials helped UIC make it 2-0 after a foul on Miller Masson in the box set the Flames up with a PK chance for Pau Mateo, who buried it past Zolnierczyk for a two-goal lead.
The Flames took a stranglehold on the game just over five minutes later when Jose Flores made it 3-0 off of another penalty kick.
Though the Colonials continued to fight, the UIC backline proved formidable, coming up with big shot blocks on Lorenzo Guagneli and Preston Rushmore in quick succession.
Jon Faynik found the target following a free kick but was denied with a nice save by the UIC keeper, as was Bryan Akongo off of a corner in the 70' after his effort was blocked.
UIC tacked on a fourth goal in the 72' to seal away the win and hand the Colonials their third loss of the season.
