The Northern Kentucky University men’s soccer team (8-4-3) will step out of conference play on Wednesday, to take on IUPUI (1-8-5) in its final regular-season home match at the NKU Soccer Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., with links to live stats available at NKUNorse.com. The match will also be broadcast live on ESPN3.
This will be the sixth meeting all-time between NKU and IUPUI with the series deadlocked at 2-2-1. The Jaguars enter the match coming off a loss 1-0 loss to Eastern Illinois on Oct. 25. The one win this season came against IPFW, with their seven other losses coming against Butler (9/1), Western Michigan (9/6), Valparaiso (9/11), Cincinnati (9/14), Lipscomb (9/20), Indiana (10/7) and Northern Illinois (10/13). IUPUI has five draws coming against Detroit (8/28), Belmont (9/18), No. 23 Omaha (9/26), No. 8 Denver (10/2) and Bowling Green (10/10).
Clint Hoffar leads the Jaguars offensively with 11 points on five goals and three assists. Goalkeeper Eduardo Cortes has allowed 22 goals with a goals against average of 1.45 while registering 83 saves.
The Norse and Jaguars last played on Spet. 21, 2014, with IUPUI getting the 2-0 win in Indianapolis, Ind. Uriel Macias and Emmanuel Usen scored on first half and second half goal respectively to defeat the Norse. NKU took 13 shots in the match with to IUPUI’s 10, while Norse goalkeeper A.J. Fleak notched only one save.
Sophomore Kobie Qulah earned Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday for his performances against Eastern Illinois (10/21) and Green Bay (10/24). Against Eastern Illinois, Qualah netted the Golden Goal in overtime to give the Norse a 2-1 over the Panthers.
Against Horizon League foe Green Bay, Qualah netted a first half goal and overtime-Golden Goal to secure a 2-1 win over the Phoenix. Qualah leads the team with 12 points and six goals.
Northern Kentucky sits atop the Horizon League standing with 15 points while, UIC is just one off the pace at 14 points. The top-six in the final standings advance to the Horizon League Championship Tournament, with the No 1 and No. 2 seed receiving a quarterfinal round bye, and the No. 1 seed hosting the semifinal (11/12) and final rounds (11/14).
The third and fourth seeds would each host a quarterfinal match (11/9) at campus sites against the fifth and sixth seeds. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, only seven points separate the first and sixth place teams.
Northern Kentucky defeated Green Bay, 2-1, in overtime in its most recent outing. Kobie Qualah scored two goals including the Golden Goal in the match. In the first half, Qualah found the net in the 13th minute with an assist by Jacob Cuningham and Alwin Komolong. Green Bay tied the match in the second half with a strike from William Nordenstrom in the 52nd minute.
Qualah then ended the match 14 seconds into overtime when he headed in the Golden Goal off of a long service from Johannes Jansen.
Northern Kentucky will hit the road for its final nonconference match of the season against Evansville on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.
From NKU Athletics