The 3rd Man In

Soccer has a tough game on the road

While the Milwaukee Panthers (10-1-1, 3-1) have had to play some tough opponents so far this season, none have been as difficult as the team they will face this week. On Wednesday, the Panthers will head to Chicago to take on conference foe, University of Illinois-Chicago (9-3, 2-0), in what will not be an easy matchup for either team.

As you can see just from both teams’ records, they have had a great start to their season, and that is because they have done an exceptional job on both sides of the ball. Milwaukee ranks first in goals scored (26) and goals against average (0.72) in the Horizon League, but the Flames are not to far behind. They rank third in goals (20), and slightly trail the Panthers in goals against average (0.74). This will make for an exciting night, with both teams capable of winning this tough Horizon League contest.

The Flames main offensive threat this season has been senior midfielder, Slobodan Aleksov, who has 12 points on five goals and two assists. He also leads the team with 18 shots on goal. While Aleksov leads the team in goals, the Flames have four other players who have found the back of the net three times apiece. UIC’s offense has been very similar to the Panthers, in that a handful of players are capable of scoring at any particular time, making them tough to defend.

Although both offenses are very good, each team has the defense to stop one another. Taking advantage of every opportunity to score will be important for both teams, as their chances will be slim.

While these are two of the best offensive teams in conference, expect this to be very low scoring matchup as the top two defenses square off. This will be a back and forth game the entire night, and will come down to the final minutes. Coming into the game it is to close to call who will win, it will be just a matter of who wants this impressive conference win more.

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