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

SOMERS, Wis. (Sept. 10, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's and women's soccer teams embark on Great Lakes Valley Conference play this weekend, taking on a pair of Hoosier State rivals. The Rangers host Saint Joseph's College on Friday before hitting the road to face the University of Indianapolis on Sunday.
 
Action gets underway on Friday at 1:15 p.m. with the Ranger women facing St. Joseph's with the men following at 3:30 p.m. The two squads head to Key Stadium on Sunday with the women facing UIndy at 12 p.m. (Eastern Time) with the men hitting the pitch at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time).
 
About the UW-Parkside women's soccer team: UW-Parkside (1-1) split a pair of home games last weekend at Wood Road Field, dominating Alderson Broaddus University 3-0 on Sept. 4 to open the season before suffering a 2-0 setback to Saginaw Valley State University two days later.
 
Against Alderson Broaddus, the Rangers ripped off 46 total shots while clamping down defensively as the Battlers were unable to get a shot off during the 90-minute affair. Lauren Bialas provided the opening score, finding the back of the net off a rebounded shot in the 39th minute with Taylor Burek netting the assist. Vianey Hernandez doubled the UW-Parkside edge in the 68th minute off a Lexi Porter assist while Macy Gassner tallied her first career goal in the 80th minute off a Bialas feed to conclude the scoring.
 
Against Saginaw, UW-Parkside controlled possession for a majority of the first half but had nothing to show for it, heading into intermission deadlocked at 0-0. The Cardinals broke through in the 69th minute with a goal from Kristin Syrowik before padding its advantage with an insurance goal in the 89th minute.
 
The loss, which was a rematch of the 2014 NCAA Tournament Second Round game won 2-0 by Parkside, was the Rangers first regular season home setback since the 2010 opener when UW-Parkside fell 1-0 to Saginaw Valley State.
 
About the Pumas: Saint Joseph's (0-1-1) heads to Somers still searching for its first victory of the season. The Pumas began the year with a 4-0 setback to host University of Findlay on Sept. 4 before salvaging a 1-1 double overtime draw against Northwood University on Sunday.
 
Against Northwood, the Pumas fell behind 1-0 in the 22nd minute before Jennifer Phillips tallied the equalizer 10 minutes before halftime off a Taylor Henry assist to level the score. SJC outshot the Timberwolves by a 19-8 margin including nine of the 12 shots taken on frame.
 
About the Greyhounds: UIndy (1-1) opened the season last weekend in Ohio, splitting a pair of games. The Hounds dropped a 2-1 contest to Ursuline College last Friday before downing host Lake Erie College 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
 
Against Ursuline, the host Arrows raced out to a 2-0 lead, scoring goals in the 10th and 33rd minutes. Sierra Singer got the Greyhounds on the board in the 50th minute but UIndy was unable to generate any more scoring, falling 2-1 despite a 10-4 edge in shots in the second 45 minutes of play.
 
Against Lake Erie, UIndy again found itself playing from behind after the Storm took a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute. Elizabeth Behrends tied the game 11 minutes into the second half before Stephanie Burdsall tallied the game winner in the 65th minute off assists from Michele Govern and Behrends.
 
GLVC Prognostications: The GLVC announced its annual Coaches' Poll on August 27 with the defending champion UW-Parkside picked to finish fourth in the 16-team league in 2015.
 
The Rangers secured 184 points and four first place votes to snag the No. 4 position. Bellarmine University is the favorite with 219 points and nine first place votes followed by Rockhurst University with 196 points. Truman State University was third with 188 points and three first place votes with Quincy University rounding out the top five with 170 points.
 
Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly invincible at home in recent years, posting a 44-3-7 record over the last 54 games at Wood Road Field.
 
UW-Parkside 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.
 
16 and Counting: The Rangers have experienced 16 straight winning seasons, a streak spanning all the way back to 1999. The unprecedented run has seen UW-Parkside make seven trips to the NCAA Tournament and win four GLVC Tournament Championships.
 
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 8-8-1 all-time in NCAA games.
 
Road Warriors: UW-Parkside had just seven contests away from Wood Road Field in 2014 but was simply dominant in those matches, winning all seven by a combined 14-1 margin. The lone goal conceded was in the first road game, a 2-1 victory over then 20th-ranked Rockhurst on Sept. 19.
 
Nikolic Nuggets: Head Coach Brittany Nikolic enters her first season at UW-Parkside and has a championship pedigree as both a player and a coach. She was a standout at Stanford University, helping the Cardinal to four NCAA Tournament appearances along with a Pac 10 Conference Championship and an NCAA Quarterfinal appearance in 2002.
 
A two-time Honorable Mention All-Pac 10 honoree, Nikolic served as an assistant coach at Northwestern University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 2004-2008. She helped UWM to a Horizon League regular season and tournament title in 2008 and UNLV to a Mountain West Conference Tournament crown in 2006 along with a regular season title for the Rebels in 2007.
 
The Los Angeles, California, native comes to UW-Parkside after a six-year stint as head coach at NCAA Division III Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she inherited a program that collected just 20 wins in the eight years prior to her arrival on campus. Nikolic rewrote the record book at the all-women's college, guiding the Inferno to their best season in program history in 2013 while exiting as the program's all-time winningest coach.
 
About the UW-Parkside men's soccer team: The Rangers (0-2) took on a pair of regional heavyweights during the non-league slate last weekend, dropping contests to Upper Iowa University and then No. 18 Saginaw Valley State.
 
UW-Parkside opened the year on the road in Fayette, Iowa, spotting the hosts a two goal lead before eventually succumbing 3-1 to Upper Iowa. The Peacocks opened the scoring in the 35th minute before adding another goal in the 66th minute. Ryan Shogren broke up the shutout in the 70th minute, scoring off passes from Evan Garcia and Jaime Colin while UIU added another tally in the 82nd minute to increase its buffer back up to two.
 
Against the nationally-ranked Cardinals, UW-Parkside surrendered the opening three goals of the contest, eventually suffering a 4-1 setback to SVSU. Saginaw enjoyed a 2-0 lead at the halftime intermission, collecting scores in the 28th and 31st minutes before owning a three-goal edge with another strike 38 seconds into the second stanza.
 
The Rangers got on the board in the 65th minute with Szymon Owczarek scoring his first career goal on a Colin assist while SVSU's Oyeleye Oluwatobi tallied his second score of the game in the 68th minute for the game's final goal.
 
Nate Kitchell has logged all 180 minutes in goal for the Green and White, collecting seven saves with a goals against average of 3.50.
 
About the Pumas: Saint Joseph's (1-0) rolls to Wood Road Field undefeated, scoring a pair of exhibition victories before blanking Oakland City University 1-0 in the season-opener on Sept. 4. The Pumas tallied a 3-2 overtime exhibition win over Division I Indiana University Purdue University-Fort Wayne (IPFW) on Aug. 28 before claiming a 3-1 exhibition win over Division III Manchester University four days later.
 
Against Oakland City, Sebastian Quinteros provided the game's lone score, finding the back of the net in the 63rd minute off an assist from Nick Cossyleon. SJC outshot the Mighty Oaks by a 20-15 margin with Puma goalkeeper Adam Whybrow netting eight saves to collect the clean sheet.
 
About the Greyhounds: Indianapolis (1-1) split a pair of home contests against Great Midwest Athletic Conference foes last weekend, dropping a 2-1 affair to Davis & Elkins College in the opener before blanking Cedarville University 2-0 last Saturday.
 
In the opener, D&E staked a 1-0 edge in the third minute and held the lead until UIndy's Jacob Meyer leveled the score in the 62nd minute. The Senators struck again in the 67th minute and held on to spoil the Hounds home opener at Key Stadium. UIndy rifled off 19 of the 24 shots taken during the game while Davis & Elkins attempted just two shots the entire second half.
 
Against Cedarville, the host Hounds scored goals in each half while Christopher Jones tallied three saves to earn the shutout in goal. Benjamin Sierra struck first for UIndy, netting a goal in the 26th minute while Josh Ling doubled the Indianapolis edge with a goal in the 72nd minute off assists from JT Hiquet and Jacob Meyer.
 
GLVC Prognostications: The GLVC announced its annual Coaches' Poll on August 27 with UW-Parkside picked to finish 10th in the 16-team league in 2015.
 
The Rangers collected 92 points in the rankings, two points ahead of 11th place Truman State University and 15 points short of ninth ranked University of Southern Indiana.
 
University of Indianapolis is the preseason favorite with 206 points and six first place votes followed closely by defending regular season and tournament champion Quincy University with 203 points and eight first place votes. Rockhurst University is third with 194 points while Drury University sits fourth with 188 points and the remaining two first place nods.
 
Offensive Rangers: UW-Parkside concluded the 2014 season ranked 22nd nationally in scoring offense, averaging 2.28 goals per game and sat 18th nationally in points per game (6.33).
 
The Z-File: Jason Zitzke enters his 17th season as a member of the coaching staff and his fifth season as head coach in 2015. During that span, the UW-Parkside graduate and 2010 Hall of Fame Inductee owns a 173-101-26 record, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament and one GLVC Championship (2000).
 
Roster Breakdown: Of the 28 student-athletes on the Ranger roster, 18 hail from Wisconsin while four hail from Minnesota. UW-Parkside has a pair from Illinois along with four international student-athletes from France, Gambia, Germany, and Poland.