Box Score

Kristen Benson's goal four minutes and 38 seconds into the overtime session gave the UW-Parkside women's soccer team a 2-1 victory over William Jewell College on Friday afternoon at Wood Road Field. The goal helped the Rangers complete the comeback after falling behind for the first time this season at home. Parkside is now 8-2-1 in the conference while William Jewell, in its first year in the GLVC, falls to 4-7-0.
 
“At this point in the season you take a win and move on,” said head coach Troy Fabiano. “It wasn't pretty. You need people to step up at this time of the year. Brynn (Darga) did that for us and I thought Natalie Brown and Megan Owens played extremely well.”
 
The Rangers controlled the match's early minutes as Brown got off to a fast start. She had a couple of decent chances sail high as a strong wind played a major affect on the game for both teams.
 
Despite the early tone set by Parkside it was William Jewell who broke through with the first goal seemingly out of nowhere. After Kelli Sontag saved a header by Benson, the Cardinals began a counter attack the other way. Sarah Franklin took a shot from well outside of the box and had it bend left and past Parkside's Cassie Glodowski for a stunning goal at 16:48 and 1-0 lead.
 
The score remained that way over the next 13 minutes before Fabiano inserted Darga into the game. She gave the Rangers an early burst of energy and less than five minutes after she entered, that energy paid off. She ripped a shot from the top of the box into the top right corner of the net to knot the score. Alex Hauser and Owens helped set it up as the ball rotated from right to left along the top of the box.
 
“It was nice to see Brynn come out and give us (that spark),” said Fabiano. “She kept her head in it after not playing (last Sunday) and responded well.”
 
Parkside had a couple of chances in the second half to take the lead but couldn't cash in. The best may have been when Stephanie Barsuli's cross floated over the head of the keeper to the Emily Konior. Konior got a touch on the ball but Renee Freeman came over to boot it away and keep the match even.
 
The Cardinals nearly ended things themselves in the OT when Sydney Jones took a long shot from the right wing and had it hit the crossbar. Coincidentally that shot immediately led to the winner for the Rangers.
 
Parkside advanced quickly up the right side and almost identically to the first goal, rotated the ball from right to left. Darga started it to Barsuli who made the final touch to Benson for the win. Sontag took a dive and may have gotten a piece of it but couldn't push it wide and the Rangers celebrated the win.
 
“We were forcing things a little bit,” said Fabiano. “We were taking shots from places that weren't very dangerous. So it was good to put together a good attack to get the win.”
 
“Now we'll move on and get ready for Rockhurst.”
 
And the Rangers will welcome the Hawks to town on Sunday at noon for the regular season home finale. Rockhurst enters the match at 7-3-1 in the GLVC just a game behind the Rangers. It will be a key match for tournament positioning with an eye on home field advantage.