The Upper Iowa men's soccer team dropped their season opener to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside by a score of 3-1 Friday afternoon. Despite strong goalkeeping and a few big saves from
Nikolai Gogol, the Rangers proved too be too much for the Peacocks to handle. UIU will travel to Lewis University, seeking their first win of the season as they take on the Flyers.
The Rangers opened up the scoring in the 6
th minute when Leki Prpa put the ball in the back of the net for his first goal of the season. UWP continued to pressure the Upper Iowa defenders but the back line was able to contain the Ranger's attack.
Nikolai Gogol was able to come up big for the Peacocks turning away the UWP chances with four saves in the first half. The Peacocks were able to apply some pressure to the Ranger's in the 29
th minute by forcing an own goal credited to
Owen Johnson, evening the score at 1-1.
The second half saw back and forth play with both sides seeing scoring opportunities. Sophomore
Tate Lofdahl had a good opportunity with a strong shot on net forcing Rangers keeper Juan Gonzalez to come up with the big save. After receiving a red card in the 67
th minute, Upper Iowa was forced to play a man down for the remainder of the game. The Rangers quickly capitalized on the numbers advantage as Prpa volleyed home a Vic Vera cross in the 69
th minute for his second goal of the afternoon. The 77
th minute was Vera's turn to score, making a run across the top of the box and slipping a shot into the side netting. Upper Iowa stood their ground late in the game with Gogol and Peacock defenders coming up with a number of crucial stops. In his first game as a Peacock Gogol totaled 10 saves including three huge stops facing a barrage of Ranger shots in the final minutes of the game.
Overall Coach
Willie McGowan saw some good character in the way the team battled back to even the score after going down early in the first half. "We've got some things to work on but the guy's effort was solid today and we know we've got a group of lads who'll bounce back from this result and work harder to get a better one on Sunday."
Upper Iowa will look to turn things around against the Lewis University on Sunday afternoon, kicking off against the Flyers at 2 PM. The Peacock's will try and recreate their effort from 2017 as they shutout the Flyers 1-0 at Pattison Field.
