HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky men's soccer team won its opening match of the season by a final score of 2-1 against Oakland City on Friday night. Wlademir Babaew's header in the second overtime period sealed the win for the Norse.
 
"We made life very hard for ourselves with some pretty poor finishing tonight," said head coach Stu Riddle. "But at the end of the day, we have come out of the match with a win, which was very important. UC Irvine will be a massive step up in quality, and we need to be much better if we're going to get anything out of Sunday's match."
 
NKU SCORING SUMMARY

• The Norse struck first in the 55^th minute. Tom Suchecki played a ball over the top of the defense. Rikard Lindqvist secured the ball and fired a shot from just inside the box to the upper right corner to give the Norse a 1-0 lead.
• NKU sealed the win in the 103^rd minute. Lindqvist played a cross from the left side into the box. Babaew got to the ball near the six-yard mark, and he powered a header past the Oakland City goalkeeper to give the Norse a 2-1 win.

BETWEEN THE POSTS

• Jim Barkei faced just one shot during the match.
• Oakland City's Walid Birrou Esah recorded 10 saves in the match, including a couple of spectacular saves in the second half and overtime periods to keep the Norse from taking the lead.

FIRST HALF SUMMARY

• Neither team was able to produce a goal in the first half.
• NKU had a couple of opportunities in the 18^th minute, but both were blocked to extinguish any scoring threat.
• In the 32^nd minute, Edo Durante played a nice cross on the ground that went through the box, but the Norse were unable to capitalize on the ball.

SECOND HALF SUMMARY

• The second half saw much more action.
• Lindqvist's goal gave the Norse the lead just into the 55^th minute.
• In the 56^th minute, Oakland City's Gustavo Cardier received a red card for fighting near the sidelines.
• Shortly after the red card, Oakland City's Jack Cookson evened the game. He secured a ball that was headed out by the NKU defense and fired a shot to the left lower corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
• A few minutes went by, and the Mighty Oaks were issued their second red card of the game. Alejandro Chavarri slid into a NKU defender from behind and was sent off.
• Playing with just nine players on the pitch, Oakland City was able to withstand NKU's 22 shots in the second half.
• The game went to overtime, and the Norse finally converted a goal at the 103^rd minute to take the 2-1 victory.

GAME NOTES

• The Norse recorded 33 shots with 10 on goal. Oakland City had just one shot in the game.
• NKU also had 23 corner kicks in the match, compared to none for the Mighty Oaks.

 
UP NEXT
NKU will host UC Irvine on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN3.