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

UW-Parkside's NCAA Tournament Info Page

Complete NCAA Division II Tournament Bracket

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 19, 2014)-- A trip to the Final Four is on the line this weekend as the third-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's soccer team hosts the third and fourth rounds of the NCAA Division II Championships on the semi-frozen turf at Wood Road Field.
 
Four teams will battle it out for a bid to the semifinals with things getting underway on Friday with the Sweet 16. Top-ranked Minnesota State University-Mankato plays 10th-ranked University of Central Missouri at 11 a.m. for the Central Region Championship before the Rangers and defending national champion and 11th-ranked Grand Valley State University square off in the Midwest Region Championship at 1:30 p.m. Friday's winners will meet in the Elite Eight on Sunday at noon with the winner advancing to Louisville, Kentucky for the Final Four. Live stats and video will be available for all three games this weekend.
 
Tournament Update: The 2014 NCAA Division II Tournament began last weekend with 48 teams scattered across eight regions. After two rounds of action the field has been reduced to 16. Thirteen of the 16 teams left are ranked in the NSCAA Top 25 Poll with the UW-Parkside pod the only one featuring four teams all ranked in the top 11. West Chester University hosts the East and Atlantic regions this weekend, Colorado School of Mines hosts the South Central and West regions while Rollins College hosts the South and Southeast regions.
 
Tournament History: UW-Parkside is making its eighth NCAA Tournament appearance, including the fifth in as many years. The Rangers own an 8-7-1 record in NCAA games and have won at least one game in each of the last six trips to the big dance. The Rangers furthest tournament run was in 2008, winning the Midwest Region and advancing to the Elite Eight.
 
The Rangers own a 3-1-1 mark in the NCAA Tournament at Wood Road Field with the lone blemish coming in the second round of the 2004 playoffs, falling 1-0 to Ashland University.
 
Grand Valley State qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2003 and has qualified every year since, a streak of 12 consecutive seasons. The Lakers own a 29-8-5 overall mark in the playoffs, winning three national championships (2009, 2010 and 2013) while finishing runner-up twice (2006 and 2011).
 
Minnesota State has made four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and nine overall. The Mavericks own a 6-7-3 mark in NCAA contests. Central Missouri is making its fifth straight trip to the big dance and has made eight overall with a 4-5-2 record in NCAA games.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (18-0-3), the top seed in the Midwest Region, sits one win shy of establishing a new program record for wins, currently sharing the record with the 2008 and 2004 squads. The Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season and tournament champions have been on the warpath single beginning the postseason, outscoring the opposition by an 11-1 margin in those contests.
 
UW-Parkside's run began back in the beginning of November with a 3-0 whitewash of Lewis University in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament. The Rangers netted a 2-0 decision over Truman State University on Nov. 7 in the GLVC Tournament Semifinals before rolling Missouri University S&T 4-1 in the Championship Game at Wood Road Field. Parkside's dominance continued last weekend in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, getting second half goals from Emily Konior and Ashley Meyer in a 2-0 win over Saginaw Valley State University on Sunday.
 
Sunday's victory gave the Green and White 16 shutouts on the season, establishing a new school record while goalkeeper Mallory Geurts inked her 15th individual clean sheet, setting a new single-season mark.
 
As a team, the Rangers rank third nationally in both goals against average (0.232) and shutout percentage (0.762), fifth in save percentage (0.894) and seventh in total assists (45).
 
First Team All-GLVC defender Emily Konior is the team's leader in goals (nine), points (20) and game-winning goals (five) while fellow backline mate and 2014 GLVC Defender of the Year Karley Mecko is second in both scoring (eight goals) and points (18). Taylor Schiffer-Jander and Second Team All-GLVCer Jillian Hetfleisch each have seven goals and three assists while First Team All-GLVC pick Niekie Pellens ranks fourth in the nation in assists with 15 on the season.
 
A total of 17 Rangers have notched at least a point this season, including eight with at least two goals this season.
 
First Team All-GLVC honoree Mallory Geurts has logged 1,937 minutes in goal for the Rangers, making 42 saves and yielding just five goals all season. The sophomore boasts a 0.232 goals against average which ranks second in the nation behind Jayln Yates of Colorado School of Mines (0.227).
 
About the Lakers: Grand Valley State (19-2-1), the second seed in the Midwest and champions of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, head to Wisconsin riding a five-match win streak.
 
Grand Valley saw its 69-match home winning streak snapped this season on Oct. 17, falling 1-0 to Ohio Dominican University but has been nearly flawless since, owning a 6-0-1 record since while yielding just one goal during that stretch. The Lakers' only other loss in 2014 was on Sept. 14, falling 1-0 to Minnesota State in Mankato.
 
The Lakers downed Bellarmine University 2-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last Sunday to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16. GVSU has played four GLVC squads this season, posting four shutouts and outscoring those foes by a 15-0 margin. In addition to Bellarmine, the Lakers have downed GLVC squads University of Indianapolis (6-0 on Oct. 1), Truman State University (3-0 on Sept. 7) and Quincy University (4-0 on Sept. 5).
 
Grand Valley has tallied 71 goals on the season with Gabriella Mencotti the team's main threat with a team-leading 15 goals along with eight assists. Marti Corby adds 11 goals and 11 assists while Jenny Shaba has found the back of the net eight times in addition to collecting 16 assists. Katie Bounds has 10 goals primarily coming off the bench while 17 players gave registered at least a point this season.
 
Andrea Strauss patrols the goalmouth for GVSU, allowing just nine goals all season and collecting 14 shutouts. Strauss has 66 saves on the year and boasts a goals against average of 0.41.
 
GVSU ranks third in Division II in scoring offense, averaging 3.23 goals per game while ranking eighth in the nation in goals against average (0.45).
 
About the Mavericks: Minnesota State (22-0), the top seed in the Central Region, is the lone team in Division II to win all of its games this season.  The Mavericks have rolled through the competition this season, outscoring its opponents by a 64-5 margin.
 
Minnesota State hasn't allowed a goal in 514 minutes, a streak dating all the way back to the end of October. The Mavericks downed Winona State University 1-0 on Nov. 9 to capture the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship before downing the Warriors 2-0 a week later in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Korey Kronforst is the Mavericks leading scorer with 15 goals on the season, including eight game-winners while Kiana Nickel has nine goals and 10 assists. Emily Moris has a team-high 14 assists while Dana Savino had nine goals.
 
Molly McGough has handled a majority of goalkeeping duties, playing in 20 of the team's 22 games and posting 13 shutouts. McGough has 38 saves on the season in 1,705 minutes of action.
 
Minnesota State ranks second nationally in goals against average (0.227), fourth nationally in save percentage (0.896) and fifth in scoring offense (2.91).
 
About the Jennies: Central Missouri (20-0-2), the second seed in the Central Region, heads into the Sweet 16 after blanking the University of Central Oklahoma 2-0 on Sunday. The Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions finished league play a perfect 14-0 this season while winning the MIAA Tournament with a 4-1 win over Southwest Baptist University.
 
Julie Ireland is the Jennies' leader in goals (12) and points (30). Hannah Pyle has nine goals and seven assists while Alex Yockey and Mikala Modiri have nine and six goals, respectively.
 
Ana Dilkes has logged all 2,035 minutes in goal for UCM, recording 81 saves and netting 13 shutouts on the season. Dilkes owns a 0.49 goals against average and owns a save percentage of .880.
 
GLVC Awards: The Rangers nabbed three of the four major awards while six landed All-Conference honors this season. Head Coach Troy Fabiano was named GLVC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career while Karley Mecko was the Defender of the Year and Bailey Reed was the GLVC Freshman of the Year.
 
Mecko, Emily Konior,  Niekie Pellens and Mallory Geurts all landed GLVC First Team honors, Jillian Hetfleisch was a Second Team selection while Reed was on the Third Team.
 
2013 NCAA Tournament Rewind: UW-Parkside downed Michigan Tech 4-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to host Quincy University 1-0 in the second round.
 
Academic Excellence: Karley Mecko was named to the Capital One Academic All-District 4 Team on Oct. 30. The 11 player team is comprised of Division II student-athletes from the GLVC, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
 
The award is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America and recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. To be eligible a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at her current institution and be nominated by her sports information director.
 
16 and Counting: Under 2014 GLVC Coach of the Year Troy Fabiano the Rangers have experienced 16 straight winning seasons a streak spanning all the way back to 1999, Fabiano's second year as coach. He currently owns a 222-73-29 career mark at UW-Parkside, making seven NCAA appearances and winning four GLVC Championships.
 
The Rangers clinched its 16th straight winning campaign with a 2-0 win over Maryville University on Oct. 10.

Five and Counting: UW-Parkside has made the NCAA Tournament the past five seasons and six of the last seven years. The Rangers have qualified for the Big Dance in 2014, 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 2014, 2012 and 2010. UW-Parkside has advanced past the first round every time except for an opening round exit in 2003. The Rangers are 8-7-1 all-time in NCAA games.
 
Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly invincible at home in recent years, post­ing a 44-1-7 record over the last 52 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 hasn'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.
 
GLVC Defender of the Week: UW-Parkside has been a consistent fixture of the GLVC weekly awards, claiming Defender of the Week accolades on five occasions, including three straight weeks. Niekie Pellens grabbed her second Player of the Week honor on Oct. 27 while Emily Konior became a two-time honoree on Oct. 20, securing the honor after netting a pair of game-winners. Konior additionally won the award on Sept. 22. Karley Mecko was the GLVC honoree on Sept. 8 while Niekie Pellens won the honor on Oct. 13.
 
Konior was additionally named the NSCAA Disney Soccer Player of the Week on Sept. 23. She became the second women's soccer player to land the honor since the award was created at the start of the 2013 season. Goalie Mallory Geurts won National Player of the Week on Oct. 8, 2013.
 
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.