KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It is a rare occasion that a draw is something special, especially in the sport of soccer.
But the Northern Kentucky University men accomplished a feat last seen 20 years ago following a scoreless tie against Lewis in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region championship, winning the penalty-kick shootout, 4-3, to advance to a third straight national quarterfinal.
The Norse (16-2-3) last won in a shootout on Nov. 2, 1988, when the Norse bested Kentucky Wesleyan, 4-3, to advance to the Great Lakes Valley Conference semifinals. All-time, NKU is 3-1 when advancing via the shootout, their only loss coming in their last round of kicks, taken on Oct. 27, 2006, in the GLVC Tournament semifinals, when Wisconsin-Parkside outshot the Norse, 6-5, to make the league championship game.
On Sunday, regulation time was dominated by the Norse, who outshot the Flyers by an 18-10 margin in the game, including a 13-6 edge during the contest's first 90 minutes. Both goalkeepers were stellar, with Lewis's Anthony Szymel making nine saves, while NKU's Michael Lavric stopped five shots on the other end.
The Norse had their chances in the second overtime as well, with Dustin Downey and Steven Beattie each directing shots toward the Lewis net. Anthony Meyer took a shot with 61 seconds left in the game, but sent his drive high and forced penalty kicks.
After the first round of the shootout went according to plan, the Norse got a scare when Mike Jonca failed to convert in the second round. Nestor Hernandez followed him immediately with a miss of his own, when Beattie tied the score at 2-all.
Charlie Bucio came up next for the Flyers, but was unable to put the ball in the net, giving the Norse an opening. Dustin Downey proceeded to make his kick to put the Norse ahead, and Tony Ray followed up in the final round to seal the win.
NKU earned its third consecutive regional championship and advance to the NCAA Division II national quarterfinals, where the Norse will travel to take on Millersville (Pa.), the champions of the Atlantic Region. Millersville posted a 1-0 victory against Slippery Rock on Sunday to win that regional title.
