UChicago Routs North Park on Opening Night
The 20th-ranked University of Chicago men's soccer team opened their 2026 campaign with a bang, routing North Park 5-2.
The Maroons wasted no time jumping on the Vikings as Chase Perry found the back of the net on a ball over the top from Evan Kanellos, just 130 seconds into the game. That goal would be the only blood drawn in a physical opening half of action as the Maroons held North Park without a shot in the first 55 minutes of the game.
After jumping out to a quick start in the opening half, the Maroons pulled some dejavu magic as Edward Wu found the back of the net just 50 seconds into the second half after a beautiful tackle at the top of the 18 that led to a scoring chance.
The Vikings drew one back in the 61st minute on a set-piece deep in the UChicago half, but the Maroons took their chance in the 71st minute when Austin Murawski drove through the North Park defense, into the 18, and drew a foul that led to a penalty kick chance. After the first VAR review in University of Chicago soccer history, the call stood, and Kanellos stepped up to the spot and scored his first goal of the season to put UChicago back in front by multiple goals.
Despite the quick momentum shift back to the Maroons, North Park struck gold with a foul in the box of their own just under four minutes later, and the Vikings cut the deficit back to one with 15 minutes to play.
UChicago put the cherry on top of the victory in the final 10 minutes as the Maroons found the back of the net two more times in a span of just 86 seconds. Timothy Ratokhin opened his scoring ledger for the Maroons in the 83rd minute off a rebound on a rocket of a shot from Preston Samtani, who recorded his first career assist. Then, in the 84th minute, Samuel Jimenez slipped a shot past the keeper after a long ball from Ali Alamery and a flicked-on header from Wu.
The five-goal output from the UChicago offense is tied for the most goals in a single game since the 6-0 win over Kalamazoo in 2024. It is also the most goals scored in a season opener for UChicago since the 10-0 win over Ripon to kick off the 2005 season.
With the win, the Maroons improve to 1-0 on the season and earn a win in the season opener for the first time since 2023.