There was one more opportunity to tune up for Great Lakes Valley Conference play for the UW-Parkside men's soccer team. The Rangers hosted the University of Mary, an NCAA Division II school from North Dakota Labor Day afternoon and came away with a 3-0 victory.

Despite the win, the Rangers were not happy. "We played down to the level of competition a bit and we need to pick it up in an always tough Great Lakes Valley Conference where it will be much more difficult," said associate head coach Jason Zitzke. "We have high expectations in this program and, even though we won 3-0, we walked away not feeling very good about it."

UW-Parkside scored all three of its goals in the first half. Tim Thao notched what turned out to be the game winner at 16:54 on an assist from Jose Alfaro. The goal was a result of a corner kick.

The Rangers tacked on later in the stanza. Armin Mehic came off the bench to find the back of the net. He tallied off a rebound shot by Renaldo Vega.

Another reserve got into the scoring column for the winners. Jon Bebeau moved the mesh at 41:19 to close out the scoring assisted by Bojan Jovicic.

"It was a game no one seemed to want to play," said UW-Parkside head coach Rick Kilps. "When you play an unorthodox opponent, when things go bad, you get frustrated."

The Rangers put nine shots on net compared to just two for the Marauders. UW-Parkside goalkeeper Victor Perez stopped both of those shots, one in each half.

The GLVC season will begin for the Rangers with a game at Bellarmine Friday evening, Sept. 7. "We need a new look a new situation," said Kilps. "Getting on the road may do us good."

"It's been a long month of training camp and non-conference opponents, said Zitzke.

Of note: Greg Walasek (a senior last year), who was a second team All-American pick last season, and senior Bojan Jovicic, a first-team All-American selection in 2006, were presented with their All-American rings prior to the game. The pair was awarded their rings by Stan Anderson, who was an NAIA All-American for the Rangers in 1990.

Kilps count: Coach Kilps picked up his 395th career victory with the win over Mary. Kilps, now in his 24th season at UW-Parkside, ranks fourth in victories all-time in NCAA Division II history. He had 67 wins at Aurora prior to returning to his alma matter.