The Upper Iowa men's soccer team will open the 2018 season with a pair of road games against the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis University. The Peacocks will kick off their season on Friday Aug. 31
st against the Rangers before traveling to Romeoville, IL to face the Flyers. In 2017, UIU opened their season against the same two opponents, hosting them both at Pattison Field in Fayette.
The Peacocks look to duplicate their results against these two schools beating both teams in the first two games of 2017. In their first match of the season, Upper Iowa topped UW-Parkside with an impressive score of 4-1. Two days later UIU posted their first clean sheet on the year, beating Lewis 1-0.
Upper Iowa was selected to finish fourth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association Preseason Coaches' Poll. The 2018 squad sees four players returning who received All-MIAA honors including
Italo Martins Soares who was also selected to the D2CCA All-Central 2
nd Team. Junior midfielder
Seth Russell earned a spot on the All-MIAA 1
st team, while teammate
Marko Cirko was recognized to the 2
nd team, and
Cameron Bosacki receiving an honorable mention. UIU will try to recreate their hot start in 2017, winning four of their first five matches, including the two over UWP and Lewis.
New Faces in the Huddle
Head Coach
Willie McGowan brings in 17 new members to this year's squad, adding a good mix of experienced transfer students and a talented freshman class. The Peacocks have depth at multiple positions, creating an atmosphere of friendly competition where players work with each other rather than against. Freshman
Alex Lynch has looked sharp in preseason, displaying his good foot skills and communication at center back. Another newcomer looking to compete for a spot on the back line is
Robin Stoffels, notching one assist for UIU during preseason scrimmages.
Nikolai Gogol, a graduate student from Karlsruhe, Germany has been vocal in net and looks to compete for the starting position.
About the Opponents
@Wisconsin-Parkside… The Rangers finished last season at 5-9-2 overall with a conference record of 5-7-2. The Rangers will have their leading scorer, Leki Prpa, back for the 2018 campaign. Prpa lead the team in goals (8), assists (5), and total points (21).
@Lewis University… The Flyers finished the 2017 season with a record of 12-4-2 and 10-3-1 in the GLVC. Lewis will be returning Junior midfielder John Horstman who led the team with five assists and totaling 15 points on the year.
