NKU women’s soccer opened up a big night for school athletics Sunday evening, as they were the first game of a doubleheader, when they squared off with the Louisville Cardinals.
The Cardinals flocked together early, as Amber Jackson was able to punch in a goal off an assist from Brooke Dardano late in the 16th minute to give them the 1-0 lead. In the 32nd minute, things began to get wild for the Cards. After a goal off of a corner kick by Dardano was called off due to an offsides penalty, Amelia Swinarski knocked in a goal 13 seconds later to give Louisville a 2-0 lead heading into half.
After playing some “Jump Around” on the speakers, the Norse started to take those lyrics to heart and matched the Cardinals’ physicality in the second half. After a first half where the Norse only took a single shot, they took two within the 62nd and 63rd minutes, showing the upbeat tempo of the offense.
After a missed shot in the 70th minute from Shay Shipley, she responded with a header in the 71st minute to get the Norse on the board and the crowd on their feet, as they trailed 2-1 with 19 minutes to go.
The Norse were able to draw nine fouls on the Cardinals in the second half, including a yellow card on Lizzie Sexton in the 87th minute, giving NKU the momentum they would need to possibly tie the game.
However, Louisville took this time to gather themselves and trap NKU in the final three minutes of the game, preventing the Norse from tying the game and ultimately lowering them in the pecking order as the Cardinals won with a final score of 2-1.
NKU men’s soccer closed out the doubleheader in their first home game of the season, drawing a crowd of more than 500 fans when they faced off against the Bellarmine Knights.
The Knights showed right away they were going to be a tough challenge for the Norse by being aggressive, but the Norse let their defense talk the first half getting stop after stop. Captain of the Norse Caleb Mundell picked up a yellow card in the 36th minute, then another card was shown in the 38th minute to Bellarmine’s Tate McCrery. The Norse scored in the 41st minute with a goal from Tyler Murphy which marked Murphy’s first goal in a Northern Kentucky uniform. The Norse had a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
The Norse came out of halftime like they did at the start of the game, showing their stellar defense til the 49th minute where Mundell was shown a red card after he picked up another yellow card sending him off for the rest of the game, forcing the Norse to play with 10 men. NKU Head coach Tom Poitras was also shown a yellow card for defending Mundell.
After Mundell was sent off, the Norse tried to keep up the defense they had in the first half, but being a man down was shown as a tough task for them. Bellarmine got their goal in the 72nd minute by Jeffrey Cox tying the game 1-1. The Norse kept fighting but conceded another goal by Chris Shust in the 82nd minute making the game 1-2.
With eight minutes left, the Norse tried their hardest to get another goal, with one shot from Steven Boaghe Braniste in the 89th minute that almost snuck past the goalkeeper but was saved by Peter Van Euwen. That save sealed the deal for the Knights, earning them the 2-1 win over the Norse.
The women’s soccer team will head up to Oxford, Ohio on Aug. 29 where they will square off with the Miami Redhawks at 7 p.m. The men’s soccer team will face off against Belmont in Nashville, Tennessee Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m.