HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Reigning Horizon League regular-season champion Northern Kentucky opens the 2021 season against a local foe when it hosts Cincinnati in the Riverboat Rivalry on Thursday, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m.
 
Match Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
University of Cincinnati Bearcats (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
Thursday, Aug. 19 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Highland Heights, Ky. | NKU Soccer Stadium (1,000)
TV: ESPN+ with Matt Sexton (PxP)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Scoring Points
 • NKU had two exhibitions scheduled - Morehead State was canceled due to lightning and Thomas More resulted in an 8-0 Norse win.
• NKU was picked to finish second in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.
• The Norse won the 2020 Horizon League regular-season at 7-0-1 and went 8-1-2 overall.
• NKU reached the #HLWSOC Tournament championship match, tying Milwaukee 0-0 through 110 minutes of action before succumbing in penalty kicks.
• NKU featured one of the best defenses in the nation, finishing third in save percentage (.913), fourth in goals against average (.345) and fourth in shutout percentage (.727).
• The Norse closed the season with seven-straight shutouts. NKU is one shutout shy of tying the 1999 team for longest shutout streak (8) in program history.
• Due to such stingy defense, NKU outscored its opponents 16-4 in its 11-game 2020 season.
• GK Mimi Stines is the reigning #HLWSOC Defensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Year.
• Stines ranked third in the country in both goals against (.264) and save percent (.929) and 14th in shutouts (7).
• Stines enters the 2021 campaign riding a six match shutout streak, which extends to seven matches if the combined shutout against UIC is included.
• Stines closed the 2020 season on an 820:47 shutout streak, which includes the last eight games and final 101:04 of the contest versus Oakland.
• Stines also earned recognition as a United Soccer Coaches All-Region honoree and, the standout on both the field and in the classroom, also collected United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America and Horizon League All-Academic accolades.
• NKU also returns its entire back line that was one of the nation's best defenses, D Chloe Mills, D Morgan Jewell, D Lily Menssen and D Taylor Abbott.
• Offensively, F/M Lindsey Meyer ranked 10th in the country in assists per game (0.73). She also scored once and ranked second on the team in points with 10.
• Meyer regularly appeared in the points column for the Norse, tallying at least one point in seven of the team's 11 games.
• Menssen, Mills and Meyer were each named to the 2020 All-Horizon League Second-Team.
• F Sophia Wilmes was second on the team with four goals scored and third on the team in points with eight. She was a Horizon League All-Freshman Team honoree.
• M/F Kaya Vogt joined Wilmes on the #HLWSOC all-freshman team and ranked third on the team with a pair of goals scored.
• In addition to Meyer, the Norse received a goal apiece from F Kiley Keehan, M Kayla Wypasek, Mills and F Annie Greene.
• Keehan, Wypasek, M Ashleigh Cronin and D Madelyn Koewler distributed assists last year.