The UW’s men’s soccer team is coming off a tournament that saw them pounce all over IUPUI 5-0 and then play No. 22 Dayton close all the way to the finish. The Flyers did not take the lead from the Badgers in the match until the 88th minute. UW led until the 76th minute but fell 3-2. A win over high-ranked Dayton would have been great for Wisconsin. Dayton has already beaten Michigan and UW-Milwaukee this year.

“I’m very disappointed that we gave the game away,” head coach Jeff Rohrman said. “After taking the lead early on, we just didn’t find the way to do it. We need to find ways to close out games and not let teams come back. Our leaders need to step up, and good teams know that they need to play for the full 90 minutes, finish chances, stop opponent chances and step up when you need it.”

Now UW has to focus on Wednesday’s match.

The UW Badgers (4-5) will host the University of Illinois-Chicago Fire (5-2, 0-2) Wednesday night at McClimon Soccer Complex. As a prelude to the Big Ten opener, this game is important for Wisconsin to get back on track after giving up their lead to Dayton. As for UIC, they have already dropped two conference games and will need to regroup in this non-conference matchup as they prepare to play the heart of their conference schedule in the upcoming weeks.

The Flames started out the season red hot, 5-0, marking the best start to a season in the program’s history. After their great start, the Flyers were ranked as high as fourth in the NSCAA Midwest Region poll. The Fire is led by senior midfielder/forward Dennis King. King has been an offensive asset since the beginning of his career at UIC. During his freshman year in 2000, he started nine of 18 games and finished fourth on the team in scoring. He was the highest point-producing frosh, tallying five goals and four assists for 14 points.

In 2001, King started 15 matches and led the team in scoring with 10 goals and seven assists. Three of his goals were game winners. King was fourth in the Horizon League for scoring, with an average of 1.69 points per match.

Last year he lead the Fire with 27 scoring points on 11 goals and five assists. He scored seven goals and had four assists during the last eight matches of the season.

King’s scoring ways have continued this season as well. He already has six goals in the team’s first seven games.

After strong play in the Oregon State/Diadora Classic, King was honored with College Soccer News National Team of the Week — a weekly selection of the 11 best players in Division-I soccer.

Just as UW is coming off of a tough loss to Dayton, UIC is coming off of its own heartbreaking loss against Cleveland State. The scoring between UIC and Cleveland State went back and fourth as State tied the game with five minutes to go. UIC eventually lost in the 99th minute. Stephan Ademolu of Cleveland State terrorized the Fire defense with three goals and two assists, scoring the game-tying goal and game-winning assist.

Despite giving up five goals to Cleveland State, UIC still has a strong defense. Three seniors lead the Fire defense: Jay DeMerit, Kevin Brady and Joe Morelli. UIC head coach Sasha Begovic thinks very highly of the defense.

“I would have to say that this is certainly one of best defensive teams I’ve ever had at UIC — for sure the deepest,” Begovic said. “With Jay, Joe and Kevin all back, we’re very solid. Those three all work very hard. They’ve all played together for two years and are a big reason we have achieved the success that we have.”

UIC experienced a lot of success last year as a team. The Fire repeated as conference regular-season and tournament champions. They had a school-record 18 wins and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time ever and ended the season ranked No. 21 in the country.

UIC also has seven seniors on the team, none of which have likely forgotten about last year’s loss to the Badgers.

Last season the Badgers and Fire fought into a second overtime. Phil Doeh capped his first career hat trick by scoring the game-winning goal. UW was up late in the game, but Joe Morelli scored two goals in the last six minutes to tie the match at three goals apiece.