GALLERY: Women’s soccer blanks Wright State, 3-0
In the first ever meeting between the NKU and Wright State women’s soccer teams Wednesday night, the Norse emerged with a 3-0 victory.
With the victory, NKU stays undefeated in the Horizon League at 5-0 and is tied with Milwaukee for first place with 15 points. Wright State falls to 1-3-1 in the Horizon League.
The Raiders were aggressive in the first 30 minutes, controlling much of the play. This did not come as a surprise to NKU Head Coach Bob Sheehan.
“They’re in every game,” Sheehan said. “They’ve had nine one-goal games. They’ve been knocking on the door. The goals just haven’t come for them. We expected a very talented team. They gave us all we could handle.”
While Wright State controlled the pace of the match early, neither team was able to score until Payton Naylor scored in the 41st minute for her first goal of the season off of an assist by Jessica Frey.
“The goal really changed the momentum of the game,” Sheehan said. “It was a really important goal.”
At halftime, the Norse led 1-0, but Wright State had outshot the Norse 14-7 and had the lead in shots on goal 4-1.
Jessica Frey wasn’t done making plays. In the 52nd minute, she broke free past the defense, got the pass and dribbled past the remaining defenders and scored. It was her 6th of the season.
The Norse would go onto to score another goal in the 74th minute. Macy Hamblin fired a wide-open shot in front of the goal to give NKU a 3-0 lead.
Wright State pressed NKU, but they couldn’t get the ball past Brooke Schocker. She made a full extension save in the 76th minute to prevent a Wright State goal. Sheehan raved about Schocker’s stop.
“It was really important for Brooke to make that kind of save and the team really rallied around that,” Sheehan said.
Wright State outshot NKU 20-19, but the Norse ended up having more shots on target 8-6.
The Norse will look to maintain their perfect record in their inaugural season in the Horizon League at home Saturday against Cleveland State. The Vikings are 3-1 in the Horizon League and 7-5-1 overall. The match begins at 7 p.m. following the conclusion of the men’s soccer game against Valparaiso which begins at 4 p.m.