HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University women's soccer team heads to Jacksonville, Florida, for its first-ever appearance in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship on Saturday.
 
NKU, which earned the fifth seed in the tournament after finishing the regular season 8-7-3 overall and 3-3-1 in the Atlantic Sun, will face No. 4 North Florida in Hodges Stadium at noon.  Links to live stats and the video broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.  Live updates during Saturday's contest will also be posted to @NKUNorseGameDay on Twitter.
 
The winner of Saturday's matchup will face No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Florida, while the No. 3 Jacksonville-No. 6 Kennesaw State winner will play No. 2 Lipscomb.  Both the semifinals and championship game will take place on the FGCU campus in Fort Myers, Florida.
 
The Norse ensured their first regular-season winning record as an NCAA Division I program on Tuesday with a 1-0 victory over Detroit.  Macy Hamblin netted her team-leading seventh goal of the season after 79 scoreless minutes of action.  Jessica Frey served the ball to Hamblin, who was just inside the box and sent a shot over Detroit goalkeeper Marina Manzo's head for the eventual game-winner.  The NKU  win snapped the Titans' 16-game home unbeaten streak.
 
ABOUT NORTH FLORIDA:  The Ospreys enter Saturday's matchup 5-11-1 overall, and they finished conference play with a 3-3-1 mark in the Atlantic Sun after dropping a 3-0 decision to in-town rival Jacksonville in the River City Rumble.  North Florida goalkeeper Megan Dorsey made seven saves on the night and allowed all three goals.
 
Kayla Gray leads the Ospreys offense with nine points as she has netted a team-high three goals and assisted on three more.  Kayla Aritt and Hanna Parado are the only other North Florida players to score more than one goal, each collecting two on the season.  Jill Holdsworth tops the team with four assists.
 
Dorsey has started each of the 16 games she has played in this season for North Florida.  She holds a 1.68 goals against average and 4-10-1 record entering the conference tournament.  Dorsey has made 93 saves, which leads the Atlantic Sun, and posted two shutouts this season as well.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST NORTH FLORIDA:  Kayla Gray's late second-half goal lifted the University of North Florida women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over NKU at the NKU Soccer Stadium on Oct. 25 in the regular-season meeting between the two programs.
 
Gray broke away from the defense as she gained control of the ball and was met by NKU goalkeeper Brooke Schocker at the top of the 18-yard box.  Gray tapped the ball to her left and took a shot as she passed Schocker, finding the back of the net at the 83:08 mark.
 
Jess Kinlaw scored first for the Ospreys.  Jill Holdsworth sent a corner kick into the penalty box in the 41st minute, and Kinlaw's shot from just outside the six-yard box found the lower right corner of the net.
 
The Norse evened the game in the 76th minute.  North Florida was whistled for a foul, and Sami Rutowski took the free kick for NKU.  The ball found Jessica Frey, whose quick shot went by Ospreys goalkeeper Megan Dorsey to bring the game even at 1-all. 
 
CONFERENCE HONORS:  Several NKU players received Atlantic Sun honors this week.  Aubrey Muench started off the week of awards for the Norse when she was selected as the conference Player of the Week on Sunday afternoon.  On Wednesday, Sami Rutowski earned a spot the Academic All-Atlantic Sun team for her performance both on the field and in the class room.  Macy Hamblin was named the conference Freshman of the Year and received a spot on both the All-Atlantic Sun first team and All-Freshmen team, while Jessica Frey was also a unanimous selection for the All-Freshmen team.
 
Muench scored two goals for NKU as the Norse defeated Lipscomb, 2-0, at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex on Friday evening to help NKU earn its first berth to the Atlantic Sun Championship.  She finished the regular season with 10 points on four goals and two assists.
 
Rutowski, a sophomore midfielder from Mason, Ohio, has started each of the 14 games she has played in this season for the Norse, and she ranks third on the team with 10 points.  She has connected on three goals and assisted on four others this season, including two helpers during Atlantic Sun action.  In the classroom, Rutowski carried a 3.956 grade point average into the fall semester as an Exercise Science major.
 
Hamblin leads the Norse with 18 points on the year on a team-high seven goals and four assists overall.  Her seven goals shares second place in the conference, alongside Florida Gulf Coast's Paulina Speckmaier and USC Upstate's Kenzie Major, and she is fourth among Atlantic Sun players in points as well.  She has taken a team-leading 59 shots, which lands third in the conference.
 
Frey, a forward from Cincinnati, Ohio, made steady strides in her first season with NKU.  She collected nine points on four goals this season, including three against Atlantic Sun Conference opponents, and one assist during the regular season.
 
IMPRESSIVE FINISH: NKU posted a 4-1-0 record over its previous five games, including an 2-1 victory to close out the 2014 season at Detroit.  During that time span, the Norse posted three consecutive shutouts to take a three-game winning streak into the Atlantic Sun Championship on Saturday.
 
NKU began building its momentum with a 4-3 victory at Stetson on Oct. 12, before the Norse traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, and dropped a 1-0 decision to a tough Louisville team, which is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.  NKU then posted a 1-0 victory against Kennesaw State on Senior Night on a goal by Jessica Frey, and two goals by Aubrey Muench lifted the Norse to a 2-0 win at Lipscomb prior to Tuesday's match at Detroit.
 
The Norse snapped Detroit's 16-game unbeaten streak on their home field, as the Titans had not lost a home match since Sept. 27, 2012.  The team posted 13 shutouts over its prior 16 matches at Titan Field, and during Detroit's unbeaten streak, the Titans won 15 of those contest and only one team to a draw earlier this season.
 
NEW BENCHMARKS:  The 2014 season saw several new benchmarks set for NKU as a Division I program.  The eight wins eclipsed the six Norse victories in each of the previous two seasons, and the 8-7-3 regular-season record also represents NKU's first winning record at the Division I level.
 
Macy Hamblin's 18 points and seven goals entering the Atlantic Sun Championship are the most recorded by a Norse as a Division I program.  Additionally, Brooke Schocker's six wins in goal sets a new benchmark for the Norse defensively, and her three shutouts ties the current D-I high.