The Norse fell to the Green Bay Phoenix Friday night at NKU Soccer Stadium 1-0 in double-overtime. The Norse dropped to 7-6-4 on the year and 3-4-2 in the conference. With the loss and a Detroit Mercy victory, NKU fails to reach the Horizon League Tournament. Green Bay secures the first seed with the win.

“It’s been a great season for the lads,” said head coach Stu Riddle. “It’s disappointing to fall before the final hurdle, but this is something to work on in the offseason.”

It was senior night for the Norse, honoring four members of the team; Dylan Carss, Christian Carey, Campbell Morris and Brett Wilson in their final regular season home game.

“It’s disappointing to see the seniors go because they’ve been such a big part of the program…but they can go with their heads held high,” Riddle said.

In the first half, the Norse and Phoenix went back and forth on the ball. The first shot on goal wasn’t taken until the 9:30 mark where the Phoenix put up two quick shots, one on goal but came up short. NKU took six shots in the half compared to Green Bay’s two.

The Norse pressured the Phoenix towards the end of the half by getting a header shot on goal by freshman Alex Greive that was blocked. Pushing and shoving had to be broken up by the officials towards the end of the first half, leading to a yellow card on NKU’s senior Dylan Carrs.

Action continued the same in the second half as the Norse and Phoenix battled it back and forth to push for overtime. The Phoenix rushed early for two shots, one on goal and was saved by Barkei. At the 65th minute, freshman Felix Komolong just missed a header over the goal. The Norse shot seven more shots, totaling 13 shots compared to Green Bay’s seven.

During the first overtime, NKU was the only team to take a shot in that time.

The second overtime saw a quick end to NKU’s hope of reaching the Horizon League Tournament after a goal by Green Bay’s Tomer Zloczower bounced off the top of the goal and went in. The game-winning shot was set up by a yellow card given to NKU’s Abdul Kooistra, giving the free kick just outside the 18-yard line.

Senior Campbell Morris felt the emotions coming into today’s contest, knowing the pressure as well as the emotions of senior night.

“There was a lot more emotion coming into this game. It was much deeper of a game for me,” Morris said. “I played with an amazing group of guys these past years…I tried to be the guy to help out on and off the field.”