Box Score
It may have been uncomfortable with the windy and rainy conditions, not to mention a slippery, partially muddy field. However, it was worth the minor inconvenience for members of the UW-Parkside men's soccer team. The squad, playing at its Wood Road Field home, defeated Rockhurst, 2-1, in double overtime.
Spencer Bursten was the hero of the late afternoon. He scored off of his own rebound, 4 minutes and 25 seconds into the double overtime session. It was Bursten's second goal of the season and could not have come at a more opportune time.
“Man, that's was a thrilling victory,” said UW-Parkside associate head coach Jason Zitzke. “Rockhurst has always has a top program. They graduated a lot of people, but it's always special when you can beat them.”
Parkside bumped its impressive overall record to 13-3-2. The team is 8-3-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and looking to hold down the fourth spot in the conference, which would allow them to host a GLVC tournament quarterfinal game on Sunday, Nov. 1.
The Hawks fell to 8-9 overall and 6-7 in league play.
Johnson Thao scored the first goal of the game for the Rangers at 26:09 on a bank off of the goalpost. It was his ninth goal of the season and was set up by Niklas Boedts. Thao's goal was his 29th of his career and passed up Zitzke on the Ranger all-time goal scoring list.
Patrick White scored the lone goal for the Hawks. He scored on a penalty shot, as a result of a Ranger handball, at 79:25.
“Everyone was waiting for someone else to help out,” said Zitzke of the series of events which produced the penalty shot. “We let them get back in the game as a result.”
“In the first half, we created a lot of scoring opportunities, but we either shot them wide or right at their goalkeeper,” noted Zitzke, who witnessed himself drop a notch in the UWP goal scoring recordbook. “We were panicking and weren't very calm. We were calm on both of our goals.”
UW-Parkside hammered eight shots on goal compared to four for Rockhurst. Shot attempts were 17-10 in favor of the winners.
“In the first 30 minutes, we were all over them,” said UW-Parkside assistant coach Derek Kilps. “We showed good perseverance in the end to come through and finish it off.”
Zitzke added, “In the last two years, we found ways to lose in some of those situations. Now, we are finding a way to win.”
The Rangers will host Drury in the final regular season GLVC game Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2:30 p.m. The team will host Robert Morris-Lake County in a non-conference match Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 3:30 p.m. That match will drop the curtain on the regular season.
