GREEN BAY, Wis. - It
took 30 degree temperatures, two overtime periods and perseverance from the
Green Bay (9-1-2, 4-1-0) men's soccer team to beat UIC (3-4-4,1-1-1) in their
homecoming game Saturday night.
It was a rough start for Green Bay as UIC scored their first
goal on a penalty kick by Kevin Stoll less than two minutes into the contest, "we
had high emotions heading into the game and that penalty kick was a big downer for
us," said head coach Tom Poitras.
With less than 17 minutes to play in the first half, Green
Bay had a great look at the net off a corner kick by David Prochazka (Gothenburg,
Sweden) but Tony Walls' (Wauwatosa, Wis.) attempt was just off the mark.
During the 40th minute the Phoenix was not off
the mark as JC Banks (Milwaukee, Wis.) stole the ball and laid it in the left
side of the net from the top of the box tying it up 1-1 at the break.
In the second period, UIC's Kevin Stoll scored his second
goal of the night off a corner kick pass to give the Flames the 2-1 advantage
with 30 minutes to play.
Once again, the Phoenix showed their strong character as
Stuart Grable (Neenah, Wis.) scored his second goal of the season off a free
kick from Prochazka knotting it up 2-2 forcing the game into overtime.
"It's a credit to UIC and Coach Trask for playing well after
playing a man down and forcing the game into overtime, giving themselves a
chance for a result," said Poitras.
In the second overtime period, it was AJ Konchar (Cedar
Rapids, Iowa) who took a shot from the top left corner of the box scoring the
game-winning goal, "AJ has had better performances over the past two weeks and
capped it off with a great finish for our team," said Poitras.
UIC was the pre-season favorite picked to win the Horizon
League and tonight's match-up will more than likely not be the last for these
two teams this season, "Getting three points vs. one for a draw is a huge
result for us down the road especially because we'll probably see them again in
the conference tournament," said Poitras.
Green Bay outshot UIC 17-8 and 9-1 on corner kicks. The
Phoenix will host Wisconsin Wednesday, Oct. 14 7p.m.
---www.GreenBayPhoenix.com---
