Box Score

The UW-Parkside men's soccer team has now exceeded its win total from all of last year. The Rangers, ranked No. 23 in the country, disposed of visiting Indianapolis at a breezy Wood Road Field Friday afternoon, 6-2.

                The win ups the Ranger record to a sound 9-2-1 overall. The team is 5-2-1 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. Indianapolis slipped to 4-4-2 overall and 2-4-1 in league action.

                “We finished pretty well today,” said UW-Parkside associate head coach Jason Zitzke. “Not only did we create plenty of chances, but we put them away.”

                The Rangers put away a couple of chances away early. Jon Bebeau scored the first of his two goals at 4:07 with an assist by Jose Alfaro. Johnson Thao scored moments later, at 6:45, off of his own rebound shot to give the Rangers a fast 2-0 lead.

                The Greyhounds answered at 7:43 on an unassisted goal by Cory Barber. Not to be outdone, Niklas Boedts scored for the Rangers at 21:40 on a loose ball given up by the goalkeeper. The score stood at 3-1 at halftime.

                “It was a good team effort because the guys off of our bench kept the heat turned up in the second half,” said Ranger head coach Rick Kilps, noting the efforts of Dennis Orellana, Kinkade Lo, Collin Monahan and Austin Robb.

                Ranger goalkeeper Jamie Lieberman helped set the tone for the second half, making a great save on a breakaway.

                “If that ball goes in, the whole complexion of the game changes,” said Zitzke. “Jamie made crucial saves at crucial moments of the game and that was one of them. He's been making saves like that for us all season.”

                Again, the Rangers out-scored the Greyhounds by a 3-1 count in the second half.

                Cyril Simmons opened things up with a goal at 56:29 with help from Boedts and Bebeau. After an Indy goal, Boedts scored his second of the game and ninth of the season off of a serve from Simmons. Bebeau closed the scoring out off of a corner kick from Johnson Thao. Bebeau has seven goals on the season.

                “Indianapolis is a technically talented team, but they are so young and haven't caught up to the pace of the college game yet,” noted Kilps. “They are going to be a force to contend with in the years to come.”

                The Rangers will host Saint Joseph's in its next match at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.