Box Score

The Detroit Titans men's soccer team ended the weekend with a 1-1 mark in Horizon League play after defeating UIC by the final score of 3-2 at Flames Field.

Freshman Adam Bedell (Livonia, MI) scored the game-winner for the Titans 11 seconds after UIC tied the game in the 62nd minute of action. The goal was Bedell's first as a Titan. Kevin Pinkos (Clarkston, MI) earned his first assist of the season on the goal.

Junior Otieno Victor (Kisumu Nyanza Kenya) made a significant impact with a goal and an assist in the first half. Victor scored the first goal of the game, and helped Detroit increase the lead setting up a goal late in the first half.

“Coming to Chicago is always a difficult task,” said head coach Nicholas Deren. “When you drop the first game of the weekend in the manner that we did it's just disappointing. The effort wasn't there against Loyola, but we bounced back and were a different team today. We got out of the gate and pushed the tempo of the game. We looked to attack them and we came out with a much better effort.”

The Titans held a 2-1 lead going into halftime as Victor and Sam Seppo (Port Huron, MI) each scored their second goal of the season for Detroit. Victor took a pass from junior Ya Ya Toure (Ypsilanti, MI) and fired a shot from the middle of the field that found the back left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, Seppo beat the keeper in the same spot from the right side of the field. Victor dribbled through multiple defenders, and crossed the ball over to Seppo who made the game 2-0 in favor of Detroit at the 40:45 mark.

UIC cut into the Detroit lead late in the first half with Derek Huffman netting his third goal of the season for the Flames with one minute remaining on the game clock.

Brandon Waterstradt (Dearborn Heights, MI) picked up his second win of the year as the keeper for Detroit. Waterstradt made five saves, and held strong as UIC was unable to connect on either of their penalty kicks. The first attempt for the Flames sailed over the net, while the second was stuffed as Waterstradt dove to his right to make the play.

“We won all of the little battles today, which gave us a good road victory,” Deren added. “Now we need to carry the momentum to Friday's game against Milwaukee. We are a very good team when we get our work in.”

The Titans will host Milwaukee at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, and end the weekend with a match-up against Green Bay on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.