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OXFORD, Ohio –
Kelsey Laumann's goal in the 76th minute helped the Northern Kentucky University women's soccer team play Miami (Ohio) to a 1-1 draw in the final exhibition tune-up on Sunday afternoon before the regular season begins for both teams.
Junior
Martha Staab set up the play when she passed the ball to junior
Sami Rutowski, and Rutowski then tapped the ball to Laumann. The redshirt junior forward's shot found its way by RedHawks goalkeeper Alexis Carpenter, who took over in goal to start the second half, to even the game at 1-all.
Kelsey Dinges gave Miami the lead in the first half when she took a pass from Rachel Marble and found the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage in the 12th minute.
Redshirt sophomore
Aubrey Muench barely missed an opportunity to give the Norse the lead with just over four minutes to play. Her shot towards the RedHawks' goal was just wide of the mark.
"Miami is an excellent program, so it was very important that we competed the whole 90 minutes," NKU head coach
Bob Sheehan said. "I am very pleased with our mentality today and that we worked hard the whole game."
Freshman
Macy Hamblin led the NKU offense with three shot attempts as Miami outshot the Norse by a 21-8 margin on the day. NKU successfully defended each of the RedHawks' 10 corner kick opportunities.
Redshirt junior
Tanner Ruberg played all 90 minutes in goal for NKU and recorded seven saves on the day. Carpenter and Danielle Wiseman each made one save for Miami.
"We are still less than two weeks into the season, so we are still trying to figure out who our key players will be," Sheehan said. "We still have a ways to go, but we have scored in both our exhibitions and that is very important for us in gearing up to start next Friday."
NKU opens its 2014 regular season on Friday at the NKU Soccer Stadium. Eastern Illinois makes its first trip to Highland Heights to face the Norse at 7 p.m. Two days later, NKU will play host to Morehead State, which will be looking to avenge last season's 2-1 overtime loss to the Norse.
Links to live stats and the ASun.TV broadcast will be available at NKUNorse.com. Be sure to follow the NKU women's soccer team on Twitter (@NKUNorseWSOC) and Facebook for up-to-date information on the team this season.
