Northern Kentucky University Athletics

Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It wasn't a win and it wasn't a loss, but a 1-1 result against Bellarmine on Wednesday night was enough for the Northern Kentucky University women's soccer team to claim its third straight Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season championship.

With the draw, NKU moves to 14-1-1 overall and finishes conference play with a 12-1-1 GLVC record.  NKU now faces a rematch with Missouri-St. Louis for the GLVC Tournament quarterfinal round, set for Saturday at 5 p.m.  Should the Norse win, they will host the remainder of the GLVC Tournament.

Allison Ponzer scored NKU's only goal in the 51st minute after Kristi Hofmeyer's attempt glanced off the left post and fell right to Ponzer, who put the ball in on the left side for her 10th goal of the season.

“When Kristi shot the ball it looked like it was going in,” said Ponzer.  “It just came off the post.  As a forward, my job is to be there to get the rebound and put it away.”

Bellarmine's Alex Kowalski had the equalizer in the 67th minute, bouncing a header past NKU goalkeeper Cassie Lingenhoel for her sixth goal of the year.

The match proved to be a very rough-and-tumble affair, as evidenced by Amanda Mason being knocked out with an injury just nine minutes into the contest.  Sweeper Stephanie Wengert also saw limited playing time, leaving the game at halftime.

“It was a physical contest, both teams played hard,” said head coach Bob Sheehan. “ We lost several key starters, but our reserves came in and responded well.

“Hopefully we can get healthy, obviously we're a little banged up after tonight, get healthy and get ready for the conference tournament.”

NKU now goes for its unprecedented eighth GLVC tournament championship.  The Norse have hosted the finals of the tournament in each of the last three seasons, winning the event in 2009.