Friday, August 15
Chicago, Ill.
8 PM ET
Michigan State University
2
at
1
UIC (Exhibition)
MSU Men’s Soccer Extinguishes Flames, 2-1, in Exhibition Action
8/15/2025 11:41:00 PM | Men's Soccer
CHICAGO - Spartan men's soccer finished exhibition action with a come-from-behind, 2-1, win over UIC at Flames Field on Friday night.
"Credit to our guys. It was a well-fought 2-1 game. Credit to UIC, Sean Phillips does a great job, and it's always a fun preseason game," MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. "They jumped on us early with an early goal. I thought that we started a little slow, but worked our way into it and were really dangerous in the last half of the first half."
UIC scored first in the 30th minute with a goal by Preston Huitron. Before halftime, the Spartans found the equalizer with an unassisted goal from freshman forward Chim Okeke.
In the 56th minute, Okeke was at it again with his second goal on the night to give the Spartans the 2-1 lead.
"We fought through some adversity and were able to tie the score and put the winner away. It was great to see Chim get on the scoreboard with two goals," Rensing said. "I thought it was a really good team effort. A lot of guys got some minutes and now we can focus on a really good UC Riverside team."
For the game, Michigan State out-shot UIC 15-8, including 10 in the first half. The Spartans also had the edge in corner kicks 7-3. For the second-straight game, 24 of 28 available MSU players saw action in the game.
Michigan State will kick off the regular season hosting UC Riverside on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 5 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium. The men's game is the first half of a doubleheader with the women's team taking on N.C. State at 8 p.m.
"Credit to our guys. It was a well-fought 2-1 game. Credit to UIC, Sean Phillips does a great job, and it's always a fun preseason game," MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. "They jumped on us early with an early goal. I thought that we started a little slow, but worked our way into it and were really dangerous in the last half of the first half."
UIC scored first in the 30th minute with a goal by Preston Huitron. Before halftime, the Spartans found the equalizer with an unassisted goal from freshman forward Chim Okeke.
In the 56th minute, Okeke was at it again with his second goal on the night to give the Spartans the 2-1 lead.
"We fought through some adversity and were able to tie the score and put the winner away. It was great to see Chim get on the scoreboard with two goals," Rensing said. "I thought it was a really good team effort. A lot of guys got some minutes and now we can focus on a really good UC Riverside team."
For the game, Michigan State out-shot UIC 15-8, including 10 in the first half. The Spartans also had the edge in corner kicks 7-3. For the second-straight game, 24 of 28 available MSU players saw action in the game.
Michigan State will kick off the regular season hosting UC Riverside on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 5 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium. The men's game is the first half of a doubleheader with the women's team taking on N.C. State at 8 p.m.
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