HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's soccer team closes out its 2014 Atlantic Sun Conference schedule on Friday night as the Norse travel to Nashville, Tennessee, for a matchup against Lipscomb.
 
Kickoff from the Lipscomb Soccer Complex is set for 8 p.m. Eastern time.  Links to live stats and the ASun.TV broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.  For Twitter updates during Friday's contest, be sure to follow @NKUNorseGameDay.
 
NKU enters the contest 6-7-3 overall and 2-3-1 in the Atlantic Sun.  Jessica Frey's fourth goal of the season lifted the Norse to a 1-0 victory against Kennesaw State on Saturday night at the NKU Soccer Stadium.  Sami Rutowski sent a corner kick into the penalty box, and Frey headed the ball through the right side of the net in the 74th minute for the only goal of the game.
 
ABOUT LIPSCOMB:  The Bisons hold a 10-5-2 record on the year and 4-1-1 mark in the conference after defeating USC Upstate, 4-0, on Oct. 17.  Anna Lail scored two goals and assisted on one other to lead the Lipscomb offense and earn her second straight Atlantic Sun Player of the Week honor. 
 
Lail paces the strong Bisons offensive attack with 13 points on five goals and three assists.  She shares the team lead in goals with Ellen Lundy, who has recorded five goals as well to go along with two assists for 12 points.  Baylee Linnell has netted three goals for Lipscomb, while Natalie DuBoise has recorded three assists.
 
Anna Buhigas has started each of Lipscomb's 17 games in goal, and she has recorded a 0.71 goals against average to rank second in the Atlantic Sun.  Her 67 saves lands fourth in the conference, while she is third with a .848 save percentage.  Buhigas has had a hand in each of the team's 11 shutouts and has only allowed 12 goals from the 203 shots she has faced.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST LIPSCOMB:  Katelyn Newton, Allison Ponzer and Sami Rutowski accounted for 11 of NKU's 23 shots as the Norse played visiting Lipscomb to a scoreless draw at the NKU Soccer Stadium on Oct. 19, 2013.
 
Newton recorded a game-high six shots, while Ponzer took five, placing three on goal, and Rutowski attempted three shots for the Norse.  NKU goalkeeper Tanner Ruberg collected five saves, including a pair of game-saving stops in the second half.
 
Brooke Coakley led the Lipscomb offense with three shot attempts, while Molly Bray, Baylee Linnell and Ellen Lundy each took two shots.  Lipscomb goalie Anna Buhigas turned away seven NKU shots in 110 minutes of action.
 
The Norse finished with a 23-14 advantage in total shot attempts, including a 7-5 edge in shots on goal, and both teams earned nine corner kicks.
 
The Norse are 1-0-1 all-time against Lipscomb. During the 2012 season in Nashville, NKU posted a 5-2 win against the Bisons in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
 
ON THE VERGE:  NKU is on the verge of earning its first berth to the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, which is set to begin on Nov.1 on campus sites.  The top six teams in the league will advance to the tournament with the top two seeds earning a bye in the opening round.
 
The Norse enter Friday's match in fifth place with seven points on two wins and one tie.  Lipscomb is in second with 13 points behind Florida Gulf Coast, which has already clinched the No. 1 seed with a perfect 6-0 record.
 
Entering the final weekend of Atlantic Sun action, North Florida's 10 points on a 3-2-1 conference record places the Ospreys in third place, and Jacksonville is in fourth with nine points on a 3-3 mark.  Kennesaw State and Stetson are still in the hunt for the postseason tournament as both teams are tied for the final spot with identical 2-4 Atlantic Sun records for six points.
 
FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTION:  Four freshmen have accounted for over half of NKU's 26 goals this season, collecting a total of 15 for the Norse.  Macy Hamblin leads the team and ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun with six goals, and she netted goals in five of the first six games she played in for NKU.  Additionally, Hamblin has assisted on four other goals.
 
Hamblin is followed by Jessica Frey's four goals.  Frey collected her first career game-winner on Saturday evening, as her header found the back of the net to give the Norse a 1-0 win over Kennesaw State.  She has picked up her efforts over the last five games, scoring three goals over that time span.
 
Elizabeth Wittwer tops the team with two game-winning goals, and she has recorded three overall this season.  She netted her first collegiate goal against IPFW on Aug. 31, and she scored the game-winners against Francis Marion on Sept. 26 and Stetson on Oct. 12.
 
Morgan Shafer rounds out the freshmen offensive output with two goals and one assist for a total of five points in her first year with NKU.  Her first career goal came at IPFW, while she added her second against Francis Marion.
 
UP NEXT:  NKU wraps up its 2014 regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 28 with a nonconference game at Detroit Mercy.  The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start, and a link to live stats is available at NKUNorse.com.