Northern Kentucky University Athletics

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team makes the trek to Springfield, Mo., to take on Lewis in the semifinal round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern with live stats available at nkunorse.com.

Ryan Grothaus scored a last-minute goal to propel NKU to a 3-2 victory over Missouri S&T in the GLVC Tournament quarterfinals. After Steven Beattie picked up his team-leading 19th goal in the 39th minute, S&T responded with two goals in the span of 15 minutes in the second half to get out to a 2-1 lead.

Braden Bishop then converted his fourth penalty kick of the season to score his 10th goal of the year in the 81st minute to tie the game. Bishop also set up the Grothaus game-winner.

NKU is now 15-4-1 on the season. If the Norse are victorious, they will advance to the GLVC championship game to take on the winner of the Drury-Bellarmine game. Sunday's championship game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. Eastern kickoff.

A WORD ABOUT LEWIS: A resurgent Flyer team stormed through the GLVC regular season, winning 11 of its last 12 games after starting the season 1-2-1. Lewis has done it with defense, surrendering only one goal in its last eight contests thanks to GLVC Freshman of the Year Sebastian Kieruzal's efforts in net. Kieruzal claims a 0.53 goals against average and 10 shutouts on the season. Offensively, GLVC first-team honoree Nestor Hernandez leads the team with 12 goals, accounting for almost half of the team's 28 total on the season.

LAST TIME AGAINST LEWIS: Nestor Hernandez scored off a set piece in the 66th minute to give Lewis a 1-0 home victory over then-No. 11 NKU. NKU goalkeeper Michael Lavric made five saves in the contest. Lewis leads the all-time series, 17-13-1, and has gone undefeated in the last three meetings between the teams (2-0-1) dating back to the 2007 GLVC Championship game.

YOU'RE THE BEST AROUND: Steven Beattie was honored as the GLVC Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season after an 18-goal regular season while seniors Seth Eckerlin and Chris Dobrowolski joined Beattie on the All-GLVC first team.

CLEAN SWEEP: Senior Braden Bishop made it a four-for-four career this year, claiming his fourth All-GLVC nod at NKU with a second-team selection in 2009. Bishop, a striker from Centerville, Ohio, was also named the GLVC Freshman of the Year in 2006 and an All-American in 2007.

IRRESISTABLE FORCE VERSUS IMMOVABLE OBJECT: Friday's semifinal will pit one of the nation's top offenses against one of the top defenses in Division II. NKU is ranked 20th in Division II at 2.55 goals per game while Lewis leads the nation by picking up shutouts in 71 percent of its games this season, including the Flyers' 1-0 victory over the Norse earlier this season.