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

SOMERS, Wis. (Sept. 25, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's and women's soccer teams close out its four-game road swing this weekend, facing Great Lakes Valley Conference rivals University of Southern Indiana and the University of Illinois Springfield.
 
The 14th-ranked Ranger women take on Southern Indiana at 5 p.m. on Friday in Evansville with the men taking the pitch at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, the Ranger women face the Prairie Stars at noon with the UW-Parkside men slated for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. Live stats and video will be available for all four games this weekend.
 
About the UW-Parkside women's soccer team: The Rangers (5-0-1, 3-0-1 GLVC) surged to No. 14 in the national poll this week, a jump of nine spots after sweeping a pair of GLVC squads on the road last weekend in Kansas City.
 
UW-Parkside began the trip with a 2-1 victory over then 20th-ranked Rockhurst University on Sept. 19 as Bailey Reed netted the winning score off a Taylor Schiffer-Jander pass with 40 seconds left in the game. Two days later, UW-Parkside picked up where it left off, steamrolling William Jewell College 4-0. The game was the Rangers' fifth shutout of the season as the vaunted Ranger defense has allowed just one goal all season.
 
Defender Emily Konior scored a goal against William Jewell and was a key member of the Ranger backline during last weekend's victories, landing GLVC Defender of the Week honors on Monday and NSCAA Disney Soccer National Player of the Week accolades on Tuesday. Konior becomes the second UW-Parkside player to win National Player of the Week honors since the program began in 2013m joining goalkeeper Mallory Geurts who was honored on Oct. 8, 2013.
 
Karley Mecko and Jillian Hetfleisch lead the Rangers in both goals (four) and points (eight) through the first six games of the season. Emily Konior has three goals and two assists on the year while Niekie Pellens leads the team in assists with six helpers in six games. Kelsey Armour and Reed each have a pair of scores this season while Jenna Brzeski has three assists.
 
As a team the Rangers have scored 20 goals while limiting opponents to just 28 total shots on the year, including a paltry eight on frame in six games.
 
In goal, Geurts has played all but three minutes this season, making seven saves on the season with a 0.16 goals against average.
 
About the Screaming Eagles: Southern Indiana (1-4-1, 0-3-1 GLVC) welcomes Parkside to Strassweg Field still searching for its first conference win. The Screaming Eagles dropped their first three games of the GLVC schedule, getting outscored 7-1 during that span before salvaging a 2-2 draw with Maryville University on Sunday. Against the Saints, Maryville raced out to a 2-0 lead after 24 minutes but the Eagles slowly worked back into the game, getting a goal from Madi Vellky in the 34th minute before Katelan Carneal provided the equalizer just one minute and 11 seconds before time expired in regulation.
 
Vellky is USI's leading scorer with two goals on the season while Maura Hulme has provided the squad's only two assists on the year.
 
In goal, Jackie Lohmann has started five of the team's six games, making 30 saves with a 2.33 goals against average. Courtney Lofland has made one start and has appeared in two games, netting four saves.
 
About the Prairie Stars: Illinois Springfield (2-4, 0-4 GLVC) opened the season with a pair of non-conference wins but has since gone ice cold, dropping four games heading into Friday's match against Lewis University.
 
After notching wins against the University of Saint Francis (2-1) and Judson University (4-0), the Prairie Stars have struggled getting outscored by a 9-0 margin in four GLVC contests. UIS suffered a pair of 3-0 setbacks to Truman State University and Quincy University to begin conference play while dropping a 1-0 decision to Maryville University on Sept. 19 and falling 2-0 to the University of Missouri-Saint Louis on Sunday.
 
Kim Tokarski has scored two of the Prairie Stars' three goals this season while Nikki Auble has a goal and an assist on the season.
 
In goal, Paige Polonus has played every minute of every game so far, logging 31 saves with a goals against average of 1.67.
 
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 209-73-27 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.
 
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.
 
About the UW-Parkside men's soccer team: The Rangers (2-4, 0-4 GLVC) head to Evansville looking to snap a four-game skid. Parkside hit the road for the first time all season last weekend, falling 5-0 to Rockhurst before getting nipped 2-1 by William Jewell College on Sunday.
 
On Friday, the Rangers trailed Rockhurst 1-0 at the break before yielding four scores in the second half in the shutout loss. Two days later against Jewell, the Rangers staked an early lead with Antonio Gonzalez scoring on a breakaway in the fifth minute. The Cardinals' responded with an Aaron Froehlich goal in the 22nd minute before Froehlich netted the game-winner in the 59th minute.
 
Gonzalez is the Rangers' leader in goals, assists and points. The junior forward has five goals on the season with four assists. Nemanja Medic and Abraham Kenneh each have four goals on the season while Elliott Schultz has two goals and two assists.
 
In goal, Marcos Perez has made five starts, collecting 14 saves and owning a goals against average of 2.25. Remi Bibal started Sunday's game against Jewell.  On the season, the sophomore has four saves in 180 minutes of action.
 
About the Screaming Eagles: Southern Indiana (2-3-1, 1-2-1 GLVC) continues its homestand on Friday after splitting a pair of GLVC games last weekend. The Eagles suffered a 1-0 setback to UMSL on Sept. 19 before rolling Maryville 5-1 on Sunday.
 
Against the Saints, USI piled on the opening four goals, including two off the boot of both Braiden Acton and Steve Sokol. The scoring binge snapped a four game scoring drought for the Screaming Eagles who had just one goal all season heading into that contest.
 
Sokol and Acton lead the team in scoring with two goals on the year while Josh Weinzapfel is tied with the two for the lead in points with four on the season (one goal, two assists).
 
In goal, Auston Bruder has started all six games this season, recording 23 saves with a goals against average of 0.99.
 
About the Prairie Stars: Illinois Springfield (2-4, 0-4 GLVC) heads into Friday's game with Lewis looking to snap a four-game slide. The Prairie Stars began the season with 2-1 overtime wins over both South Dakota School of Mines and Montana State University-Billings but have mustered just one goal since those non-league games, getting outscored by GLVC opposition by a 9-1 margin.
 
UIS suffered a pair of one goal losses at home last weekend, falling 1-0 at the hands of Maryville before surrendering an early lead in a 2-1 loss to UMSL.
 
Leading the way for UIS is Jack Coombes with two goals on the year. Three more Prairie Stars have a goal this season including Ismael Serratos who has one goal and one assist.
 
Illinois Springfield's Tommy Geile and Kyle Hamilton have split time in goal, each making 15 saves on the season. Geile has logged four starts and owns a goals against average of 1.53 while Hamilton has started two games with a GAA of 2.18.
 
Looking Ahead: The Rangers host Oakland City University in a rare midweek game next Wednesday. Kickoff at Wood Road Field is slated for 2 p.m.  The Mighty Oaks (5-2) have played three GLVC teams this season, winning two. Oakland City fell 4-0 to Bellarmine University on Sept. 4, edged McKendree 5-4 in overtime on Sept. 7, and blanked Saint Joseph's College 2-0 on Sept. 9.
 
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 166-96-24 record, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament and one GLVC Championship (2000).