RACINE, Wis. - The GLIAC Tournament championship in men's soccer lived up to the hype on Sunday at Pritchard Park. Davenport found themselves down 2-0 after a rough first half and battled back in the second half to just fall short 3-2 against No. 20 Parkside. Davenport trailed by two goals at 2-0 and 3-1 but found a way to get within one goal. The Panthers finished with 20 shots including four on goal. Parkside had 17 shots with seven of those on goal.

Davenport (11-7-1) saw the Rangers (15-3-2) jump ahead 2-0 in the first 32 minutes but after that they settled in and made it a tough match. Rade Novakovich scored in the 18th minute with assists from Dejan Rokvic and Nikola Kesich. Kesich from the right wing passed to the middle and the ball deflected off a defender before Novakovich scored from six yards lower middle of the net. Osvaldo Sanchez Arellano scored in the 32nd minute with assists from Novakovich and Rokvic. Novakovich trapped the ball off his chest on a throw-in and quickly passed to the middle where Arellano shot from 18 yards top left corner for his third goal of the season.

The Panthers made it 2-1 in the 53rd minute as Tyler Welch scored his second goal of the season. Daire O'Riordan had a pass to a running Welch who used his left foot to the lower right from around 18 yards in the middle of the field. The turning point came just 19 seconds later when the Rangers made it 3-1. Novakovich had a give-and-go with Max Ludwig who passed from the right wing to Novakovich who settled the ball and dribbled briefly before using the outside of his right foot to score from 11 yards to the lower right. The GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year notched his NCAA Division II leading 24th goal of the season.

Davenport wasn't done and made it 3-2 in the 76th minute. O'Riordan took a corner kick and served it well into the box. The Parkside keeper and a defender collided and Gustav Moeller got a head on the ball which was deflected away right to Matt Whelan who scored off the rebound in close for his 10th goal of the season. In the final 14 minutes, Davenport applied more pressure and had two shots off target in the final five minutes. O'Riordan in the 85th minute had a half-volley swing go just over the crossbar and then Evan Marquess off a free kick from 26 yards in the middle launched it a good six feet over the crossbar.

The Rangers earn the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many chances (2019) and Davenport will have to wait to see if they get an at-large bid. The Panthers were the ninth-ranked team in the region entering the GLIAC Tournament. There are 10 teams in each of four regions that will comprise the field. The selection show will be on NCAA.com tomorrow (Nov. 15) at 6:30 p.m.