Northern Kentucky University Athletics

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's soccer team looks to break up the five-way tie for first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings in Friday's matchup against Drury. Kickoff is scheduled for noon Eastern.

NKU and Drury are both 8-2 in GLVC play, while NKU holds an 11-2 overall record.

The Norse are on the cusp of putting themselves in the driver's seat in the conference race after key wins against Quincy and Rockhurst last weekend. The Norse picked up four goals from four different scorers to post matching 2-1 victories.

Hannah Wissel had a strong weekend with a goal and an assist, while Kendall Day scored a goal to take a share of the team lead with six.

NKU will close out the road trip on Sunday with a visit to Missouri S&T.

A WORD ABOUT DRURY: The Lady Panthers are 11-3 overall on the season and have spent all season on top of the GLVC thanks to a staunch defense that has posted nine shutouts this season. Jessie Sanderson has been in net for all of those and has a 0.43 goals against average and a .903 save percentage, good for 11th and 10th in the nation, respectively. Nicole Williams has nine goals to lead the Lady Panthers, while Katie Pritchard has come off the bench this season to add eight.

LAST TIME AGAINST DRURY: NKU received first-half goals from Ashley Warndorf and Amanda Mason to push to a 3-1 victory at Drury last season. Each team managed 11 shots with NKU putting nine on net. NKU and Drury are even in the all-time series at 2-2.

A WORD ABOUT MISSOURI S&T: The Lady Miners, at 5-5 in the GLVC and 5-6-1 overall, are fighting for their postseason lives with every game. S&T is currently ninth in the conference with a game-in-hand on No. 8 Southern Indiana. The offense comes from Melissa Young, who has five goals and three assists on the season.

LAST TIME AGAINST MISSOURI S&T: NKU was dominant last season against Missouri S&T, taking a 6-1 victory in the contest. Lauren Franzen and Kelly Sullivan each had two goals in the contest while Amanda Mason chipped in three assists. NKU is 5-1 in the all-time series and has won the last four meetings between the teams.

REGIONAL RANKINGS: NKU's victories last weekend helped the Norse vault to No. 2 in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region rankings. Grand Valley State leads the regional rankings, while NKU, Bellarmine, Indianapolis, Quincy and Saginaw Valley round out the top six.

RETURN TO THE NATIONAL POLL: The Norse also returned to the NCAA Division II national poll with a No. 15 ranking, ending a five-week absence for NKU from the rankings.