HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team hits the road for two games this weekend against Wright State on Sept. 20 and Marshall on Sept. 22. The Norse are 2-2-2 headed into the weekend are coming off a 1-1 draw at Cincinnati
Wright State is 1-2-1 on the year and recently played Ohio State to a scoreless draw. The Raiders hail from the Horizon League and the are currently 1-0 on the season in home games. The Norse will travel to Dayton, Ohio, for the third time this season as they played two games earlier this season at the University of Dayton.
"My main concern is that we do what we are supposed to do," said head coach John Basalyga. "We play them (Wright State) every spring and we know they are athletic. It has been a common theme for us all year. We go into every weekend trying to figure out what we are supposed to do to compete and if we figure that out we will be hopefully win."
The Norse will have a day of rest before heading to Huntington, W.Va., to take on Marshall on Sunday Sept. 22 at 2:30 p.m. The Thundering Heard are 2-4-1 this season and play in the highly competitive Conference-USA. The Norse are fimiliar with some C-USA teams, as they have played Kentucky in an exhibition to begin the last two seasons.
"They have gotten off to a rough start but they are a very young team," said Basalyga. "They play in a tough conference and know what it takes to win. Though they are young on paper, they aren't a young team athletically or in a soccer sort of mindset."
The game against Marshall will conclude an eight game road-trip and a recent stretch of five games in ten days for the Norse. Basalyga has hailed his team's toughness and has noticed the maturity of the team change from last season.
"The kids are getting used to animal they are playing against," said Basalyga. "Last year we had no idea what to expect from Division I teams and now this is the norm. We were just scared last year and we aren't intimidated anymore."
The Norse started out 0-6 in 2012 and sit at 2-2-2 to start off 2013. The team's strength this season has come from playing hard the whole game and scoring late for the Norse has been a reoccurring theme. They have played in four overtime games this season as opposed to playing only two last season.
"We score late because of the way we train and because of the mental toughness we have," said Basalyga. "You can't always go to that but if they believe they can score then they can play with anyone. Caleb Eastham has been on a great run for us but other guys have to start taking the responsibility to score."
Live stats for both games will be available at nkunorse.com. Follow @NKUNorse on Twitter for updates on the game as well as updates on all NKU athletic teams. While on Twitter, follow the official account of NKU men's soccer @NKUNorseMSOC.
