Parkside 3, Upper Iowa 1
 
HEAR FROM COACH ZITZKE & LEKI PRPA
"Upper Iowa is a physical, well-coached team and they gave us a good battle today," eighth year head coach Jason Zitzke said. "It took a little pressure off of us once Leki Prpa scored the first goal and we kept competing until the final whistle." Prpa is a red-shirt junior for the Rangers, returning leading scorer and 2017 Second Team All-Region recipient.
 
"Everyone wants to start off perfect and with a 3-1 win, we start off 1-0 on our season," Prpa added. "We'll take it and look forward to Sunday."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Last year, Parkside fell 4-1 against Upper Iowa in the season opener, but today that was certainly not the case. Rangers came out strong and by the fifth minute, Prpa put the ball in the back of the net, the first goal of the 2018 season for Parkside. Prpa's goal came from a deflection off a shot from Max Ludwig and the Wind Lake, Wis., native was in perfect position to put the Rangers up 1-0.
In the 29th minute, Upper Iowa led an attack off a free kick resulting in a goal, which would tie up the game 1-1 at half; however, this did not stop the Rangers offense. By the 68th minute, Prpa had tallied his second goal of the season off a cross from red-shirt senior, Vic Vera. Vera added his first goal of the season at the 76th minute off a slotted ball from senior Reyes Perez.
 
IN THE NET
Junior goalkeeper Juan Gonzalez defended the net well all game, along with the Ranger defense, who held the Peacocks to only five shots on goal, four of those saved by Gonzalez.
 
STATWORTHY
Rangers ended the match totaling 29 shots, 13 of those on goal while holding Upper Iowa to just eight shots and five on goal. Both teams had two corner kicks during the game but neither team finished their chances. The Peacocks went into double-digits with fouls, receiving three yellow cards and one red card on top of 18 individual fouls.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Rangers are on the road to compete against Quincy on Sept. 2 at 1:30 p.m. Parkside will return home on Sept. 6 when they face Illinois-Springfield at Wood Road Field at noon.