Northern Kentucky University Athletics

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team will be looking to get back on track this weekend when the Norse host Wisconsin-Parkside for a Great Lakes Valley Conference showdown.  Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

NKU concludes the weekend hosting Lewis on Sunday for a noon kickoff.  Live video and stats links can be found at nkunorse.com.

The Norse (7-1, 5-1 GLVC) return home after having their 17-match winning streak snapped by Missouri S&T on Sunday. The loss dropped the Norse out of the top spot in the NCAA Division II national poll for the first time this season. NKU opened the weekend with a 1-0 win at Drury to manage a 1-1 mark on the road trip.

Anthony Meyer broke a scoreless draw on Friday in the 77th minute in Friday's victory. Sanjit Kang collected the shutout while making two saves, stretching his goalless streak to almost 430 minutes at the time.

Missouri S&T defeated NKU, 2-1, behind goals from Ben Emnett and Kyle Schraier. Schraier's goal was the winner, coming in the 69th minute. Michael Holder notched his third goal of the campaign for the Norse's lone goal.  The loss snapped a string of eight straight wins by the Norse over the Miners.

A WORD ABOUT WISCONSIN-PARKSIDE: The Rangers enter Friday's contest with an overall record of 5-2-1, and a record of 3-2-1 in the GLVC. Parkside is 5-0 at home, but has yet to win on the road, owning a record of 0-2-1 away from Kenosha.

Last season, NKU was held to a tie with the Rangers, 2-2 in Kenosha, Wis. The Norse trailed 2-0 at halftime, but used goals by Steven Beattie and Alex Weber to draw even.  UWP has the edge all-time, 13-11-4, though the Norse are unbeaten (7-0-2) in the last nine meetings spanning back to the 2005 season.

A WORD ABOUT LEWIS: The Norse will renew their rivalry with Lewis on Sunday. The Flyers currently sport a record of 3-5 overall, 3-3 in the GLVC. After defeating Maryville 8-0 last Friday, the Flyers fell to Missouri-St. Louis 2-1 on Sunday.

Last season, Lewis took a 2-0 win over the Norse on Oct. 3 en route to the GLVC regular-season title. Lewis was upset in the first round of the GLVC Tournament, allowing NKU to host the remainder of the tournament as the No. 2 seed.  Lewis owns the all-time series, 18-13-2, and has held NKU winless (0-3-2) in the last five meetings between the teams.

SAFE IN THE TOP TEN: Despite the loss at Missouri S&T, the Norse find themselves slotted at No. 10 in the latest top 25 poll. The Miners used their upset win of the Norse to catapult themselves to No. 7.

CROWDED ATOP THE GLVC: The Norse enter the weekend in a three-way tie for the top spot in the GLVC standings. NKU, Missouri S&T, and Indianapolis all own conference records of 5-1. Northern Kentucky will travel to face Indianapolis on Oct. 9.

BRICK WALL: Opponents have scored just two goals on Sanjit Kang and the “Norse Wall” this season. That stretch covers seven games and a total game time of 498:23.

THEY SAID IT:  “I think the formation we're playing is really helping us.  It makes me and [Kevin Donnelly] at outside back get up in the run of play and with the three forwards we have being so fast and with [Michael Bartlett] in the center holding the ball, it gives us a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the net.” – Anthony Meyer on NKU's balanced offense.

“[Sanjit Kang] has come in and done a really nice job in goal keeping us organized and [Ian O'Reilly] has come in and really picked up the slack of us losing a guy. We really mesh well and we hope to go on another shutout streak.” – Tommy Barrick on NKU's defense.

“GLVC play is always tough.  There are a lot of good teams.  We didn't beat either one of these teams last year.  We lost to Lewis and tied Parkside, so we're definitely looking for a little bit of payback this weekend.” – Kevin Donnelly