#10 Parkside 4, #7 UIndy 2
The Parkside men's soccer traveled to Ashland, Ohio to compete in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Rangers faced off against the UIndy Greyhounds in a very rainy match. After an evenly matched start, the Rangers offense came alive and ran away with their first NCAA Tournament win in program history. The win was also the 100
th victory at Parkside for Head Coach
Jason Zitzke.
Like us on Facebook: Parkside Ranger Athletics
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Greyhounds jumped out to an early lead in the 17
th minute with a goal from Michael Tselios. The Rangers responded quickly, with
Jules Peycelon scoring a goal in the 34
th minute with the assist going to
Osvaldo Sanchez Arellano. The Rangers took the lead in the second half with 54
th minute goal from
Lars Popp, who scored off an assist from
Mike Howell. The Greyhounds tied the game in the 68
th minute, when a well-placed corner kick from Jakob David led to a goal from Niklas Thanhofer. The Rangers jumped back on top in the 72
nd minute when
Matteo Quintero fired a serve that found the foot of
Tode Atlija for a goal to put the Rangers up 3-2. The insurance goal came in the 82
nd minute as
Alejandro Martinez found
Edgar Heredia Victoria for an open-net goal.
HEAR FROM COACH ZITZKE
"It was an exciting opportunity to be able to play in the NCAA Tournament. Over the last couple of seasons, I felt like we've had some good opportunities but we weren't able to advance from the first game. Today, I think we started the first 10-15 minutes with some nerves, just guys playing a little hesitant with their decision making. And then when [UIndy] scored, I think we settled down and were like 'Okay, this is a game. We need to figure out how to play the way we like to.' I think we began to play more like ourselves after that. I think some of the biggest things I took away from the game were how we responded. We were down 1-0, then we tied it up. Then we were leading and Indy tied the game late and I think we played much better after that happened. We were holding on to the lead, and when they tied it, we realized that we can't settle. We need to go forward and create chances. We ended up winning by two and getting two goals late in the game and we kept attacking. We had a limited number of guys to play, so everyone who was available stepped on the field today. Everyone made huge contributions all over the field. A great team win. We're going to enjoy it for a bit and then prepare for the next one."
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE RANGERS
The Rangers have advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and will play #2 Ashland on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. CST. For more information, visit
parksiderangers.com.
Â
