Northern Kentucky University Athletics

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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team played Bowling Green State to a 0-0 draw in their home opener of the 2013 season.

The Norse played in their sixth overtime game this season to move to 3-2-4 overall.
 
The Falcons dominated possession throughout the first half of play. They outshot the Norse 8-3 in the opening 45 minutes, and they spent a majority of that time controlling the ball in the midfield. The Norse had few chances at goal during the first half. Mohammed Salhieh had a break inside the Falcon's penalty area in the 20th minute. He wove between two defenders and sent a shot in at goal. The ball never curled in the way Salhieh intended, and it sailed wide of the target.
 
Within the next couple of minutes, A.J. Fleak was called to action. He saved two shot attempts, one of which came from a free kick outside the box. The next was a long-range attempt from the BGSU defender Max Auden. He sent in a low, powerful shot through the legs of the Norse defense and into the hands of Fleak.
 
The next offensive chance came for the Norse in the 33rd minute when Gavin Colton received a deflected ball from a BGSU clearance. He set up a shot from about 35 yards out, but it went just over the crossbar. Austin Pierce added a late attempt in the 45th minute that went wide of the target as well. Fleak's three saves would keep the score level into the half.
 
The Falcons (1-4-4) continued adding pressure to the Norse defenders in the second half. They had four corner kicks in the second half to NKU's zero. The Norse central defenders of Ian O'Reilly and Alex Weber did a good job of keeping the Falcon attackers in check. O'Reilly and Weber blocked two shot attempts from Danny Barladi in the opening ten minutes of the second half.

BGSU's Anthony Grant had the best chance all day when he broke through the Norse defense in at goal. His first touch got him past Fleak but his shot at the wide-open goal hit the near post. The Norse defenders took a huge sigh of relief as Grant knew he missed out on a golden opportunity.
 
Nicholas Chiarot had an opportunity to notch the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute but his shot was blocked by BGSU's Sean Sikich. Nick McGregor gathered the deflection and struck the ball towards the goal. The Flacon's keeper, Michael Wiest, made the diving save to keep the game scoreless.  The Norse blocked a last second shot from Ryan Snashall that ended regulation and sent NKU in to its sixth overtime of the season.
 
The Norse have played 92 minutes of overtime this season, so playing extra minutes is something they have become accustomed to. They were 1-1-3 in overtimes this season headed into today. Things were looking good offensively for the Norse to start out extra time as a free kick from McGregor found the head of O'Reilly. O'Reilly was unable to direct the ball in the goal as the shot went just wide of the post. Moments later, McGregor took his second shot of the day that was tipped out of play by Wiest. The ensuing NKU corner kick was cleared away by the BGSU defenders.

The second overtime saw one good chance from Yaw Addai. He received the ball from Weber and immediately took the long attempt at goal. His shot never troubled the keeper, and Wiest made the save. Fleak battled off one last attempt from Rodcliff Hall in the last minute, and the game would end in a scoreless draw.

This was the first time this season the Norse failed to score in a game, but their unbeaten run stretched to five with the result.
 
NKU will begin conference play on the road next weekend as it heads down to Florida to take on Stetson on Oct. 4 and Florida Gulf Coast on Oct. 6. The Norse defeated the Hatters last season at home 1-0 and played FGCU at home to a 1-1 draw. Live stats will be available at nkunorse.com. Be sure to follow @NKUNorseMSOC on Twitter. It's the official Twitter account of NKU men's soccer.