HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team opened up their Atlantic Sun Conference schedule with a scoreless draw against the Lipscomb Bisons. The Norse were unable to capitalize on any of the seven shots on target they had.
 
Lipscomb was projected to finish atop the A-Sun standings this season and they presented a tough challenge for the Norse to begin the conference campaign. The match unfolded and the Norse looked the inspired side.
 
Cian McDonald took the first shot of the day for NKU in the 13th minute. He struck the ball from 20 yards away and forced Nate Davis to make an awkward save by tipping the ball over the crossbar.
 
"The starting lineup that went on the field played very well," said head coach John Basalyga. "They won a lot of balls, had great distribution and rarely lost the ball. Alwin Komolong and Nick McGregor did a good job locking down the middle of the field and everything else flew through it."
 
Moments later, the Bisons picked up the offense through the counter attack. Josue Chaves broke through the Norse defense in the 24th minute and struck a low ball that A.J. Fleak had to dive to save.
 
"A.J. and I talked last week about his lateral movement," said Basalyga. "He made some nice saves on balls that were hit on the ground. I was really pleased with the corrections he made to stop those shots. He punted and kicked well tonight. It was the best game he had all year."
 
The Norse continued to press the attack forward led by Yaw Addai, Caleb Eastham and Kobie Qualah; but the trio was not able to come up with many chances in the opening forty-five minutes. The two sides would head into halftime scoreless.
 
"I thought our defending was much better than it had been," said Basalyga. "Lipscomb have scored a lot of goals so far this year and we shut them down tonight. We shut down a good offensive team with a good overall effort from everyone."
 
The second half continued to show signs of prominence from the Norse. Christian Johnson, Jacob Cunningham, Justin Wolstenholme and Ronald Moss exposed Lipscomb's high defensive backline on numerous occasions in the opening stages of the second half.  The Norse offense looked fluid and but to Lipscomb's credit, they never gave up many dangerous opportunities. The Norse only saw four of their eleven shots in the second half land on target.
 
"We had chances but the thing we did all game was play with conviction, energy and purpose," said Basalyga. "We still have issues scoring goals. I'm more pleased with the effort than the result. We disrupted their counter attacks and had more composure on the ball. We forced them to defend us. By letting plays develop we can keep other teams off the ball more."
 
The Norse had their best chance to seal a game winner come in the 80th minute. McDonald took a corner kick for the Norse and found Yaw Addai in space inside the six-yard box. Addai couldn't put the header on target.
 
A.J. Fleak made two saves in the final moments of the second half to keep the game scoreless after 90 minutes. For the fifth time this season, the Norse headed to overtime.
 
"We had a gameplan and we stuck to it," said senior defender Ian O'Reilly. "We did a really good job of pressing them and we didn't have to do much in the back because everyone hustled. If we concede goals its an uphill task to score more to catch up. We never had to do that during the match."
 
Diego Martinez and O'Reilly each had chances in the second overtime but the Norse never found a golden goal. The match ended in a scoreless draw and NKU moved to 2-4-4 (0-0-1 A-Sun) on the year.
 
"After coming off a couple of bad losses, this game was a massive boost for us," said O'Reilly. "It was really important for us to get a result. It was pity that we didn't score though."
 
The Norse will be back in training this week to prepare for another top Atlantic Sun Conference team in Florida Gulf Coast. The Norse will host the Eagles on Saturday, Oct. 11 in a match that is sure to have major conference implications.
 
For updates on the NKU men's soccer team during the rest of the season, follow @NKUNorseMSOC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.