FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Oct. 2, 2014)-- After two straight weekends on the road the University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's and women's soccer teams finally return to Wood Road Field, hosting Great Lakes Valley Conference rivals Bellarmine University and McKendree University.
 
The Ranger men host the Knights on Friday at 1:15 p.m. with the women's game following at 3:30 p.m. UW-Parkside men's soccer kicks off against McKendree at noon on Sunday with the women's match at 2:30 p.m. Live stats will be available for all four games.
 
About the UW-Parkside men's soccer team: The Rangers (5-4, 2-4 GLVC) head into Friday's clash riding a three match win streak. The Rangers have outscored their opponents by a 9-0 margin during that stretch and haven't allowed goal in 301 minutes.
 
Marcos Perez nabbed a season-high 12 saves as UW-Parkside earned a 1-0 road victory over the University of Southern Indiana last Friday in Evansville. Nemanja Medic netted the lone score in the 32nd minute while a red card with 35 minutes left reduced the Rangers to 10-men the remainder of the game. UW-Parkside picked up a 2-0 win over the University of Illinois Springfield on Sunday before steamrolling non-league foe Oakland City University 6-0 on Wednesday.
 
Medic leads the Ranger offensive attack with a team-best six goals and 14 points. Antonio Gonzalez has five goals and four assists while Abraham Kanneh and Jorge Ontiveros have four and three goals on the season, respectively.
 
In goal, Perez has started eight of the squad's nine games, sporting a goals against average of 1.29 with 39 saves. The senior was named the GLVC Defender of the Week on Monday before snagging Disney Soccer/NSCAA Division II Player of the Week accolades on Wednesday.
 
About the Knights: Bellarmine (4-4-1, 2-3-1 GLVC) hits the road for just the second time this season after a four-game homestand at Frazier Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. The Knights have won two of the last three, downing Truman State University 2-1 on Sept. 21 before blasting Saint Joseph's College 5-0 on Sept. 26. BU's win streak came to a close last Sunday, faltering 2-1 to the University of Indianapolis.
 
Kai Qualah is the Knights' leading scorer with five goals and one assist on the season. Dan Schiavi has four goals and three assists while Zach Digan is the only other player with more than one score with two goals in 2014.
 
Blake Hunter has handled a majority of the goalkeeping duties, appearing in seven games, logging 519 minutes in net with 15 saves and a goals against average of 1.39. Tommy Hebert has logged 313 minutes in goal, making two starts and logging seven saves.
 
About the Bearcats: McKendree (2-5-1, 2-4 GLVC) heads into the weekend having dropped four of its last five games. The Bearcats lone victory during the stretch was Sunday's 4-0 beatdown of Saint Joseph's at Leemon Field in Lebanon, Illinois.
 
All four of McKendree's recent losses have been by one goal, suffering 1-0 setbacks at the hands of the University of Missouri-Saint Louis on Sept. 14, Truman State University in overtime on Sept. 19 and Quincy University in double overtime on Sept. 21. McKendree additionally fell 2-1 to UIndy on Sept. 26.
 
CJ Cerna is the Bearcats leader in both goals (three) and points (seven). Callum Kiddell is the only other Bearcat with more than one goal, with two on the season. Joe Hilderbrand is the team's leader in assists with three on the season.

GLVC Preseason Poll: UW-Parkside was picked to finish 11th in the annual GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll released on August 27. The Rangers tallied 75 points in the rankings, falling 30 points shy of 10th place Truman State University. University of Indianapolis sits atop the rankings, claiming 213 points and eight of the 16 first place votes. Quincy University had four first place votes and sits second followed by Rockhurst in third place with three first place nods. Lewis University rounds out the top four with 189 points and the remaining first place endorsement.
 
Around the World: The Rangers' roster features three international student-athletes, including Remi Bibal from Toulouse, France, Kawsu Samba from Banjul, Gambia, and Szymon Owczarek from Gdansk, Poland.

Z is for Zitzke: Jason Zitzke enters his 16th season as a member of the coaching staff and his fourth season as head coach. During that span, the UW-Parkside graduate and 2010 Hall of Fame Inductee owns a 169-96-24 record, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament and one GLVC Championship (2000).
 
About the UW-Parkside women's soccer team:  The 11th-ranked Rangers (7-0-1, 5-0-1 GLVC) are the lone remaining unbeaten team in the conference, owning a half-game lead in the GLVC standings after winning four straight road games.
 
The Rangers began the road swing with a 2-1 win over 20th-ranked Rockhurst University on Sept. 19 with Bailey Reed netting the game-winner with 40 seconds remaining. UW-Parkside continued to roll two days later, netting a 4-0 win over William Jewell College before posting identical 1-0 wins over Southern Indiana and Illinois Springfield last weekend.
 
Emily Konior, Karley Mecko and Jillian Hetfleisch share the team lead in goals, each with four through eight games. Bailey Reed and Taylor Schiffer-Jander each have two goals and two assists while Niekie Pellens leads the team in assists with six on the season.
 
In goal, Mallory Geurts has played all but three minutes this season, racking up 15 saves with a goals against average of 0.12. The sophomore ranks third nationally in goals against average and is fourth in the nation in save percentage (.938).
 
As a team the Rangers have outscored opponents by a 22-1 margin, collecting seven shutouts this season while yielding just 16 shots on frame all year. UW-Parkside ranks in the top five nationally in five categories, sitting second in shutout percentage (.875), third in goals against average (0.122) and save percentage (.938) and sit fifth in both team winning percentage (.938) and total assists (22).
 
About the Knights: Bellarmine (7-2, 5-1 GLVC) heads to Somers having won three straight and six of its last seven games. The Knights lone blemish during that stretch was a 1-0 home setback to Quincy University on Sept. 19. Last weekend BU downed Saint Joseph's 4-2 on Friday while rallying to the 2-1 overtime win over UIndy on Sunday.
 
Mary Beth Gorham and Katie Fernandez lead the Knights in scoring, collecting six and five goals on the season, respectively. Abby Janszen has three goals and three assists while Emily Hollander has a team-best five assists.
 
In net, Hannah Poteet has started all nine games, posting four shutouts and making 24 saves with a goals against average of 0.98.
 
About the Bearcats: McKendree (4-5, 3-3 GLVC) started out league play 0-3 but has caught fire, rolling off three straight shutout wins. The Bearcats busted out of their funk on Sept. 21, knocking off defending GLVC Champion Quincy 1-0. McKendree piled on four goals in the shutout win over UIndy on Sept. 26 before downing Saint Joe's 2-0 last Sunday.
 
Eight Bearcats have scored at least one goal with Natalie Crane and Danielle Hareb pacing the squad with three goals apiece. Taylor Zerbe and Anna Sassman have split time in goal for the Bearcats with Zerbe making five starts and collecting three shutouts. Zerbe has 19 saves on the year and owns a goals against average of 0.60. Sassman has notched four starts, making a team-high 21 saves with a goals against average of 2.25.
 
GLVC Prognostications: The Rangers were picked to finish fifth in the annual GLVC Coaches' Preseason Poll, released on August 28. UW-Parkside tallied 185 points, falling one point shy of fourth place Bellarmine University. Defending GLVC Champion Quincy University accrued 14 first place votes to snag the top spot followed by Truman State University in second and Rockhurst University in third.
 
15 and Counting: Under head coach Troy Fabiano the Rangers have experienced 15 straight winning seasons a streak spanning all the way back to 1999, Fabiano's second year as coach. He currently owns a 211-73-27 career mark at UW-Parkside, making seven NCAA appearances and winning four GLVC Championships.

Four and Counting: UW-Parkside has made the NCAA Tournament the past four seasons and five of the last six years. The Rangers have qualified for the Big Dance in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2004 and 2003. The Rangers advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament in 2008 while making an appearance in the Sweet 16 in 2012 and 2010. UW-Parkside has advanced past the first round every time except for an opening round exit in 2003. The Rangers are 7-7-1 all-time in NCAA games.
 
Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly invincible at home in recent years, post­ing a 36-1-5 record over the last 42 games at Wood Road Field. The lone loss in that stretch was a 3-2 defeat to Rockhurst on Oct. 28, 2012 in the GLVC Tournament. UW-Parkside hasn't lost a regular season home game since falling 1-0 to Saginaw Valley State University in the 2010 season opener on Sept. 2 and haven't dropped a regular season GLVC contest at Wood Road Field since suffering a 1-0 setback to the University of Indianapolis on October 2, 2009.
 
RangerNation: The 2014 UW-Parkside women's soccer roster features 27 student-athletes from eight different states and one foreign country. The Rangers hail from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, California, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Florida and the Netherlands.