CHICAGO, Ill. – Forced to play with 10 men for the final half hour, the Cleveland State University men's soccer team nearly earned a road point, but host UIC scored on a penalty kick with less than a minute remaining in double overtime to claim a 1-0 win in Horizon League action Saturday afternoon at an unseasonably warm Flames Field.
It is just the second Flames win in the last eight meetings between the teams dating to the 2010 campaign.
With junior Antonio Burgoa unavailable for the match, head coach Kirk Harwat made two changes to the starting lineup for the Vikings with redshirt junior Madifing Conde and sophomore Lawrence Karpeh rejoining the squad.
The teams combined for just seven shots on goal through 109 minutes of action until the spot kick ended the proceedings.
Cleveland State took three shots and had a corner kick within 12 minutes of the opening whistle, including two shots by sophomore Vlad Jandric, but the visitors could not grab an early lead.
There was then a stretch of over 75 minutes in which neither team had a shot on goal. In the 81st minute, a CSU defender was shown a red card, changing the complexion of the match.
The Vikings initially responded well, but the task still proved to be too much to overcome. Karpeh fired a shot on goal, and Cleveland State took two corners over the following seven minutes but to no avail.
Redshirt junior Pavle Majerle made a save with just over a minute left in regulation to send the contest to overtime.
Each team took three shots in the first overtime session with both goalies making one stop.
The final period was relatively quiet until the final minute when the referee awarded the host Flames a golden chance to win it, which they converted.
CSU has allowed just six goals from the run of play in its last 11 matches.
Cleveland State will close its four match road swing this Tuesday, Oct. 24, when it plays its non-conference finale at Cincinnati.