The Northern Kentucky University men’s soccer team (6-3-2, 3-0-2 Horizon League) return home to the NKU Soccer Stadium on Saturday to face UIC (5-3-2, 2-0-1) in a League tilt with kickoff slated for 3 p.m.
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 with links to live stats available at NKUNorse.com.
UIC enters the match with the Norse coming off a 2-1 League victory over Wright State on Oct. 3 at home. The Flames’ four other wins have come against Bradley (8/28), Georgia State (9/13), DePaul (9/17) and Green Bay (9/20) with their three losses coming at the hands of SMU (9/30), UAB (9/11) and Northwestern (9/23). UIC has tied two matches against Butler (9/5) and Milwaukee (9/27). Manny Chavez and Jorge Alvarez lead the Flames in goals with three each, while Chavez leads in assists (4) and points (10). Andrew Punta has played every minute this season in goal for UIC, hauling in 32 saves with a goals-against average of 0.94 through 10 games.
In Northern Kentucky’s six wins, five different Norse have notched game winning goals. Calvin Murphy leads the way with two while Kobie Qualah, Yaw Addai, Nick Perez and Diego Martinez all have one each. Additionally, seven different Norse have found the net this season with Johannes Jansen and Qualah leading the way with three each.
Four of NKU’s six wins have come in games played at night, giving the Norse a record of 4-2-1 when the sun goes down. When it comes to Saturday matches, the Norse will look to reverse the trend as they carry a record of 0-0-2 so far in 2015.
The Norse currently sit atop the Horizon League standings with 11 points with a record of 3-0-2 in League play. Valparaiso and UIC are tied for second with 7 points each and matching League records of 2-0-1. In individual categories, Norse goalkeeper A.J. Fleak leads the League in save percentage (.869), saves (53) and saves per game (5.89).
On Oct 7, Northern Kentucky overcame a 1-0 second half deficit to defeat Cleveland State 2-1 to remain undefeated in Horizon League play. Kobie Qualah netted the equalizer in the 72nd minute with Nick Perez recording the game-winning goal six minutes later. A.J. Fleak recorded seven saves on 15 shots faced to earn his fifth win of the season.
From NKU Athletics