Box Score

The UW-Parkside men's soccer team dropped its first match of the season with a tough 1-0 loss at Indianapolis on Sunday. The Rangers fell to 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in the league while Indianapolis improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the GLVC.

"Like many games in this conference it could have went either way," said head coach Jason Zitzke. "We both had some opportunities and they capitalized on one and that was the difference."
 
The teams took a scoreless tie into the second half after the Rangers outshot the Greyhounds, 6-4 in the opening stanza. Goalie Nick Huftalin had three saves in the first half including an impressive diving effort to his right to keep the game scoreless.

"Nick made some big time saves and kept us in the game," said Zitzke. "I would say he had an excellent game."
 
Indianapolis finally broke through in the game's 48^th minute to take the lead. Wesley Oliver headed one into the middle of the net off the free kick of Bobby Adkins for the game's only tally.

"They scored on a restart and it's something we had discussed," said Zitzke. "We can't give up unnecessary fouls. It happened last game and it happened to us again. Obviously that's something we need to work on."
 
The Rangers had a couple good opportunities to knot the score but couldn't find the net. The best opportunity came  when Kinkade Lo banged the post with a shot in the game's 60^th minute.

"It was a great buildup," said Zitzke. "We got in behind their defense and it was a beautiful cross by Jose Alfaro. A well-driven ball and Kinkade Lo had the keeper totally beat but it just hit the post and bounced out. Many times off the post like that it'll go in but it just didn't hit the right spot."
 
Indy had a great chance to extend the lead when Adkins got behind the Rangers defense down the right side. But Huftalin came out and erased his angle, forcing the shot wide. Moments later he came out to smother a 50-50 ball a kept the deficit at 1-0.
 
Parkside made a final push with time running down and earned a couple late corner kicks. Unfortunately the first was booted back out by the Greyhounds and the second resulted in a Ranger foul on the backside. They were unable to get another shot the rest of the game as Indy earned the victory.
 
The Rangers outshot the Greyhounds 11-10 for the game but Indy put more shots on goal (6-5). Huftalin had five saves for the Rangers in defeat.
 
Parkside will be back in action next Friday when they go to Quincy for a GLVC match at 7:30 p.m.