Northern Kentucky University Athletics

Box Score

DELAND, Fla. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team battled back against Stetson to claim a 2-1 overtime win in their first conference game of the season.
 
The game started with two quick chances for the Norse in the opening minutes. Mohammed Salheih took a shot off of a Brendan Murphy corner that went wide. Moments later, in the 11th-minute, Nick McGregor took a long-range attempt that sailed wide of the target. The Hatters would continue to battle the Norse for possession in the midfield. The Hatters were very aggressive on and off the ball as they had three players receive yellow cards in the first half.
 

Stetson won a corner in the 27th-minute that would prove to be damaging. Raffaele Centofanti took the corner for the Hatters and the ball deflected off of the foot of JJ Bostic. Chase Rodgers collected the ball and sent it in the goal to put the Hatters ahead 1-0.
 
The Norse would play damage control for the rest of the first half and go into halftime with a one goal deficit. This isn't something that has been unfamiliar for the Norse, as they have trailed at the half in five games this season. They went 1-1-3 in those games.
 
Cian McDonald would start things off for the Norse in the second half. He got in the penalty area and took a shot that was saved by Andreas Schnabl. It was really the first time all game that Schnabl was called into action. McDonald took a corner kick in the 70th-minute that found the head of Ian O'Reilly. O'Reilly's header sailed just over the crossbar and the Hatters breathed a sign of relief.
 
The Hatters only took two shots in the second half of play, none of which bothered the Norse keeper A.J Fleak. The Norse had their backs against the wall in the closing minutes and they would find a way to level the score-line. Nicholas Chiarot played a ball to McGregor in the 89th-minute. McGregor's powerful shot was on target and mishandled by the Stetson keeper. It went in the goal to tie the game 1-1 and would go down as McGregor's first career goal at NKU. The final whistle would sound and the Norse would head to overtime for the seventh time this season. NKU was 1-1-4 in overtime games this season heading into the night.
 
The overtime period was dominated by the Norse. Salhieh took a shot in the opening minute that was blocked by a Stetson defender. McGregor would follow that in the 94th-minute with a long shot that sailed wide of the goal. The Norse began to zero in on the target in the 97th-minute when Nathan Sexton took a shot from inside the penalty area that was just barely saved by the Stetson keeper.
 
Salhieh would be the hero of the match when he scored in the 98th-minute of the game. Yaw Addadi played a cross in the box, looking for Salhieh. The ball deflected off a Stetson defender and fell at the feet of Salhieh. Salhieh put a shot in from inside the six-yard box to seal the 2-1 victory for the Norse.

The Norse improved to 4-2-4 on the season and they start out 1-0 in Atlantic Sun Conference play. The team will take a travel day to head to Fort Myers, Fla. where they will take on Florida Gulf Coast at 1 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 6. The Norse played the Eagles to a 1-1 draw in 2012, marking the only tie for the Norse last season. Live updates will be available on nkunorse.com and on Twitter under @NKUNorse and @NKUNorseMSOC.