Despite a hard-fought 90 minutes, the Wright State men's soccer team fell to the Horizon League preseason favorite UIC Flames 1-0 Thursday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Wright State drops to 0-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in Horizon League play, while UIC improves to 1-0-0 overall and 1-0-0 in conference play.

UIC looked to strike early as the Flames recorded three shots nearly four minutes in the contest, two of which were saved by Isaiah Slabaugh. UIC's Diego Mendoza tallied the Flames' first and ultimately only goal of the contest in the ninth minute, giving the Flames a 1-0 advantage at the end of the half.

Wright State looked to tie the contest in the 46' as Zion Beaton's shot to the bottom left corner of the net was saved by UIC's Sokratis Vasilas. Joe Kouadio and Presten Manthey also looked to tie the scoreline for the Raiders, but both shots went wide to the left side of the goal. Notably, UIC did not attempt a shot in the second half until after 20 minutes had elapsed. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Both Wright State and UIC tallied just nine shots for the contest, while the Flames recorded a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal. Raider goalkeeper Isaiah Slabaugh finished with four saves, as did UIC's Sokratis Vasilas.
• Zion Beaton led the Raiders with two shots (two on goal), while Joe Kouadio also tallied two shots of his own. Harvey Slade, Brayden McNitt, Presten Manthey, Reece Allbaugh, and Blake Pittser each recorded one shot for Wright State with Slade and McNitt each tallying one shot on goal.
• In goal, Wright State tallied five total saves to UIC's four as well as four corner kicks to the Flames three.

UP NEXT
The Raiders return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 10 as they hit the road for the first time in 2021 to face Detroit Mercy.