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

SOMERS, Wis. (Sept. 3, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's and women's soccer squads open up the 2015 campaign this weekend, both facing a pair of non-conference foes.
 
The Ranger men begin the season on Friday with a road clash against Upper Iowa University at 2 p.m. in Fayette, Iowa, before opening up the home slate on Sunday with a 2:30 p.m. clash against Saginaw Valley State University at Wood Road Field. The women's squad hosts a pair of foes with a 3:30 p.m. showdown with Alderson Broaddus University on Friday before welcoming Saginaw Valley State to Wood Road Field on Sunday at noon. Live stats and video will be available for all four games.
 
About the UW-Parkside women's soccer team: The defending Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season and tournament champion Rangers (18-1-3 overall, 12-0-3 GLVC in 2014) open the season ranked ninth in the nation, returning 16 student-athletes from last season's Sweet 16 run.
 
The biggest change for UW-Parkside will be at the top with Brittany Nikolic replacing Troy Fabiano as head coach after Fabiano took the head coaching gig at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee after 17 seasons in Somers. Nikolic was a standout student-athlete at Stanford University, helping the Cardinal to four appearances in the NCAA Tournament before serving in the coaching ranks at Northwestern University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, UW-Milwaukee, and Alverno College.
 
Offensively, the Green and White, return two of the top four goal scorers from a season ago along with Kaela Hoecherl who led the team in scoring and points in 2013 before sitting out last year. Hoecherl started all 22 games in 2013, finding the back of the net 10 times along with two assists and five game-winning goals. Joining Hoecherl will be Second Team All-GLVC selection Jillian Hetfleisch and Taylor Schiffer-Jander. Both Hetfleisch and Schiffer-Jander finished the 2014 season with seven goals and three assists with four game winners between the two.
 
UW-Parkside boasted the nation's best defense in 2014, allowing just six goals all season while producing 16 shutouts. Anchoring that unit will be Kelly Trojak who started all 22 games last season.
 
About the Battlers: Alderson-Broaddus begins the season on Friday after closing the 2014 campaign with a 6-12-1 overall record and a 4-6 mark in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play. The Battlers won three of their final four regular season contests, outgunning the opposition by a 17-2 count before dispatching Davis & Elkins College 2-0 to open the G-MAC Tournament. Alderson-Broaddus had its season come to a close in the G-MAC Semifinals, stumbling 3-0 to Trevecca University.
 
The Battlers have plenty of shoes to fill offensively with of the 28 goals scored last season, just eight came off the boots of returning student-athletes. Brittany Minor is the top returning scorer with three goals and one assist in 2014.
 
In goal, ABU returns Taylor Garcia who logged 731 minutes between the pipes, recording 35 saves and posting three shutouts with a 0.99 goals against average.
 
About the Cardinals: Saginaw Valley State begins the season on Friday at Lewis University before heading north to Somers looking to avenge last season's 2-0 defeat to the Rangers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 16. SVSU finished 2014 with an 11-4-3 overall record and an 8-2-2 mark in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action. The Cardinals blanked Ohio Dominican University 1-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before eventually falling 2-0 to host Parkside in the second round.
 
The top three offensive weapons from a year ago return, including Ashley Henderson who tallied nine goals and four game-winners. Also returning for the Cardinals is Shelby Watts who had four goals and two assists and Presley Tibbetts who racked up a team-best seven assists during the season.
 
In goal, Claire Spleth returns after spending all 1,680 minutes last season in goal, collecting nine clean sheets and making 95 saves with a 0.86 goals against average.
 
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 44-2-7 record over the last 53 games at Wood Road Field. The only setbacks during that run came in the postseason with the Rangers falling 3-2 to Rockhurst University on Oct. 28, 2012 in the GLVC Tournament and a 1-0 overtime loss to eventual national champion Grand Valley State University in the NCAA Sweet 16 on Nov. 21, 2014.
 
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.
 
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 (9-7-2 overall, 6-7-2 GLVC in 2014) improved their win total for the third straight season in 2014, registering the program's first winning campaign since 2009. UW-Parkside was in the mix for the GLVC Tournament heading into the final day of the regular season but a 1-1 tie against arch rival Lewis University put the Rangers ½-behind Bellarmine University for the eighth and final tournament spot.
 
UW-Parkside returns five of its top seven goal scorers from 2014, including Antonio Gonzalez who was second on the team in scoring (eight goals) and led the team in assists (seven). Abraham Kanneh returns after netting seven goals in 2014 along with Elliott Schultz (three goals and two assists) and Evan Garcia (two goals and three assists).
 
In addition to a solid nucleus of returners, fifth-year Head Coach Jason Zitzke has brought in 11 freshmen including eight hailing from inside the Badger State.
 
About the Peacocks: Upper Iowa finished the 2014 campaign with a 10-7-2 overall mark and a 6-5-1 record in Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association play. The Peacocks had a strong finish to the season, going 4-1-1 over the final six games of the season, including a 2-1 setback to Northeastern State University in the MIAA Tournament semifinals in Olathe, Kansas.
 
Upper Iowa returns its top six goal scorers from a season ago, including Ryan Pinkerton who tallied seven goals and four assists and Johnny McBeth (seven goals, two assists).
 
Connor Rortvedt returns in goal for the Peacocks after registering 75 saves last season with a goals against average of 1.36.
 
About the Cardinals: Saginaw Valley State comes into the season ranked 18th nationally in the preseason NSCAA Top 25 Poll after making an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance a season ago. The Cardinals closed the 2014 campaign with a 14-5-2 overall record and a 9-3-2 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
SVSU fell 1-0 to Northwood University in the GLIAC Tournament Championship game on Nov. 9 but earned revenge a week later, knocking off the Timberwolves 5-2 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Saginaw had its season come to a close in the Round of 16, stumbling to Quincy University by a 3-0 count.
 
The Cardinals return three of their top four scorers from a year ago with Jordan Kalk leading the way with seven goals in 2014. Tyler Channell is back after scoring six goals and netting six assists in addition to Aleksander Isaevski (four goals and nine assists).
 
SVSU keeper Alex Bouillennec returns after making 82 saves and posting seven shutouts as a freshman.
 
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.
 
Opening Weekend Flashback: The Rangers and Cardinals last met during the opening weekend in 2013 with host Parkside playing to a 2-2 draw against then No. 2 Saginaw Valley. In that game, SVSU struck first with a Tyler Channell goal in the ninth minute before Elliott Schultz netted the equalizer in the 40th minute. An own goal gave the visitors the 2-1 edge in the 51st minute before an Antonio Gonzalez pass set up Jorge Ontiveros' in the 60th minute to level the score.
 
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 173-99-26 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.