Kevin Walker battles for possesion in a 2-2 exhibition tie with Kentucky
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team travels to High Point, N.C. for the Flash Gordon Invitational beginning Friday. The Norse will play Radford in the tournament opener, with kick-off slated for 4 p.m.
NKU will then battle High Point, the tournament host, on Sunday. Kick-off in the tournament's finale is also scheduled for 4 p.m.
The Norse opened up their regular season Division I schedule against Wisconsin-Green Bay, falling in a 1-0 decision. NKU played with ten men for most of the match.
Mohammad Salhieh scored the first regular season Division I goal against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but the Panthers prevailed, 2-1.
Radford enters the Flash Gordon Invitational with one match under their belts, a 0-0 draw with UMBC. In exhibition play, the Highlanders defeated Wake Forest, 1-0, and dropped a 2-0 decision to James Madison.
High Point has also played one match, a decisive win over Elon on the road. The Panthers were led by Leon Carby, who had a goal and an assist in the season opening win. In exhibition play, High Point battled Richmond to a 0-0 draw, and defeated Appalachian State, 3-1.
THEY SAID IT:
Head Coach
John Basalyga:
On the 1-0 loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay. “The kids battled the entire time and actually played pretty well after the sending off. It was nice to see our kids respond in a positive way.”
On inserting
Mohammad Salhieh into the starting lineup. “Every now and then you have to change the lineup. With
Gavin Colton not being able to play Sunday, Mohammad had a chance to start and was able to score.”
On the Norse's young back four. “Right now defense is our focus, making sure we are organized in the back and not giving up goals. Against Milwaukee we had some breakdowns, but overall we had some chances in the last 10 minutes.”
On playing Radford. “Radford has a good reputation, they are very athletic and very physical. We're looking forward to just being able to compete with them. These two teams this weekend are dynamically different than last weekend.
On playing High Point. “It's a big game for them, they get to pick on us. Hopefully we'll be ready physically, because it's very demanding in Division I going from Friday to Sunday. Sometimes the kids don't have enough time to recover, so we'll see how everything balances out, they are very athletic.”
On participating in the Flash Gordon Invitational. “With us being as young as we are, the more times we see teams play is immeasurable. The kids get to see the pace of the game, and the physicality of the game.”
