CHICAGO -Junior Ivan Stanisavljevicrecorded his second hat trick of the season, leading the UIC men's soccer team to a convincing 3-1 win over Green Bay in the Horizon League opener at Flames Field Saturday night. The victory marked UIC's third-straight at home.

With the win, UIC improved to 6-2-2 (1-0 Horizon) on the season, while Green Bay moved to 4-4-1 with a 1-2 mark in Horizon League action.

"It's always great to get a win, especially to start out conference play," said head coach Sean Phillips. "The last couple of years, we have not started off well. When we drew Green Bay as our Horizon League opener, I was definitely concerned, because they have been the class of the conference the last two years. To win this game, while our performance was not the best, is certainly something we'll take, and look to improve upon as we move forward."

Green Bay starting goalkeeper Ryan Wehking was handed a red card in the 14th minute, setting up a penalty kick situation for Stanisavljevic. The call was made after Wehking denied an "obvious goal scoring opportunity" according to lead referee Terry Vaughn. Stanisavljevic capitalized on the opportunity, scoring his fifth goal of the season, as Green Bay was forced to play the remainder of the game with one man down.

UIC took a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, but Stanisavljevic gave the Flames insurance with his second tally in the 54th minute (53:50), playing a ball from senior Eric Frazier on the left wing just outside the 18-yard box - he then cut his defender, and finished low post to make the score 2-0. The goal ended up representing the game-winner.

The match remained scoreless for the ensuing 19:02, before Green Bay's Andrew Stone scored his first goal of the season following a free kick by Stuart Grable, who was credited with the assist.

UIC regained a two-goal advantage (3-1) in the 87th minute (86:20), after Stanisavljevic was the beneficiary of another opportunistic pass from Frazier. He received the ball from 20 yards out, cut outside and put the ball in the back of the net on a heavy strike to the far post.

"Ivan came into this season incredibly fit and hungry after a disappointing 2010 season," Phillips said. "He's getting what he deserves now - his teammates have been playing very well to put him in position to make plays, and he's been taking advantage of it."

UIC recorded a convincing 14-7 advantage in the shots department, and had nine shots-on-goal. Goalkeeper Piotr Kikolski made two saves, while Green Bay back-up goalkeeper Ryan Wehking turned away six shots in his near 77 minutes of action between the posts.

Stanisavljevic and Ned Pavlovic led UIC's offensive output with four shots each, while Frazier added three. Stanisavljevic passed Frazier for the Horizon League lead in goals - he now has seven goals on the season.

UIC will be idle until next Saturday (Oct. 8), when the Flames travel to Indianapolis to take on defending Horizon League champion Butler. The Bulldogs are 4-3-1 on the season, including a 0-1-0 record in conference matches.

---

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Recap

TeamRank Presented By TeamSnap - Boys

Midwest High School Roundup - Nov.