The Northern Kentucky University men’s soccer team (5-3-2, 2-0-2 Horizon League) travels to Cleveland State (3-5-1, 0-2-1 Horizon League) Wednesday for a Horizon league match with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
The match will be broadcast live on ESPN3 with links to live stats available at NKUNorse.com.
Cleveland State enters Wednesday’s match following a 1-1 tie with League foe Detroit on Oct. 3 at home. The Vikings three wins this season have come against Cornell (9/11), Duquesne (9/13) and Cincinnati (9/23), with their five losses coming against Robert Morris (8/30), Dayton (9/2), Wright State (9/19) and Valparaiso (9/26).
Jake Lagania leads the Vikings offensively with three goals and seven points. Aleksandar Drobac has started the last three matches in goal for Cleveland State, posting a record of 1-1-1 with three goals against and 13 saves.
This will be the first meeting between Cleveland State and Northern Kentucky. It will be fourth first-time opponent the Norse have faced this season out of seven total the squad will face in 2015. So far this season the Norse are 2-1-0 against first-time opponents with the Norse defeating Memphis, Saint Francis (Pa.) and losing to Bucknell. NKU’s remaining first-time opponents are UIC, Valparaiso and Evansville.
Heading into this week’s action, Northern Kentucky sits atop the Horizon League standings with League record of 2-0-2 and point total of eight. Valparaiso (2-0-1 Horizon League) is in second, with UIC (2-0-1 Horizon League) in third.
Freshman Johannes Jansen continues to impress offensively, leading the team in goals (three), points (eight) while sporting two assists. In NKU’s last two League matches Jansen assisted Kobie Qualah on the game-winning goal against Belmont and netted the equalizing goal in the Norse’s 1-1 (2OT) draw with Oakland.
Northern Kentucky battled Oakland to a 1-1 (2OT) draw in a League tilt on Oct. 3 at the NKU Soccer Stadium. Johannes Jansen netted the game equalizer in the 46th minute with an assist by Bastain Beckers.
Beckers headed the ball to Jansen who settled it and fired a shot from just atop the 18-yard box, beating the Oakland goalkeeper Wes Mink to the left. The match was NKU’s fourth double-overtime match of the season.
Following their match at Cleveland State, the Norse return home Saturday to face UIC in a League bout with kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m. at the NKU Soccer Stadium.
Norse fall to Wright State in straight sets
Keely Creamer put in another double-figure performance with 12 kills for the Northern Kentucky University volleyball team in a 3-0 loss to Horizon League foe Wright State on Tuesday.
Haley Libs added nine kills for the Norse, who fell to 6-11 overall and 1-4 in Horizon League play. Taylor Snyder narrowly missed a double-double, going for 27 assists and nine digs while Mel Stewart picked up 23 digs.
Wright State (12-8, 1-4 Horizon) was paced by Katie Klusman, who had 14 kills and 16 digs on the night. Megan Hopkins added 14 kills and three blocks, while Maddie Lohmeier dished out 37 assists, added seven digs and four of WSU’s 10 blocks on the night.
The Norse got three quick kills from Creamer to race out to a 4-1 lead to open the match, but the Raiders came back and matched pace, tying things up at 8-8 before the Norse got on another run, this time 4-0. NKU again captured the lead, 17-14, before the Raiders used strong defense at the net to key a 9-1 run to take the lead for good, as WSU claimed a 25-21 win in Set 1.
A 4-0 run for the Raiders in Set 2 put Wright State up 13-9 in the early going before the Norse again battled back, tying the match at 18-18 after taking advantage of a series of WSU attack errors. NKU used a 4-0 run to reach set point at 24-22, but couldn’t close the set out as Wright State took four of the last five points, including a pair of kills from Klusman, to take a 27-25 win in the second stanza.
Set 3 saw another early 4-0 run for WSU, this time pushing the Raiders to a lead they would not relinquish at 6-3. The Raiders continued to push their advantage, scoring eight of the final nine points of the set to take a 25-13 win and sweep the match.
NKU will return home on Friday to begin a three-match Horizon League home stand, beginning against Youngstown State. First serve from Regents Hall is set for 7 p.m., with a live broadcast on ESPN3.
From NKU Athletics