Sunday, November 14, 1999
NKU advances in NCAA soccer
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
Senior forward Lisa Geiman's goal gave Northern Kentucky University a 1-0 victory Saturday over North Dakota State in the NCAA Division II Central Region championship game at Town and Country Soccer Center.
NKU meets Ashland (Ohio) or Mercyhurst (Pa.) in the second round next week. NKU Athletic Director Jane Meier said game time and location will be announced Monday morning.
Geiman, a Bishop Brossart graduate, scored in the 40th minute for the 10th-ranked Norse. It was Geiman's fifth goal of the season, and she entered he game fifth in scoring for the Norse.
Was NKU coach Bob Sheehan worried that his top two scorers, sophomore forward Betsy Moore (McAuley) and sophomore midfielder Tricia Ruark (Seton) were a combined 0-for-9 Saturday? Hardly.
“I think scoring's clearly become balanced,” Sheehan said.
Freshman forward Kristen Noakes (Dixie Heights) started the sequence that led to Geiman's goal. Her shot rebounded off Bison sophomore keeper Tara Sweeney, and Geiman put it away from about 10 yards into the lower left corner of the net.
“I was at the right place at the right time,” Geiman said. “It wasn't me; it was my team.”
Geiman's goal capped a first half NKU mostly spent in the Bison defensive half of the field. The Norse outshot the Bison, 14-2 in the first half and 23-3 for the game.
“They are a much more athletic and quicker team in all areas of the field,” Bison coach Matt Townsend said of NKU. “We haven't played that kind of team that, top to bottom, is as quick.”
Geiman liked portraying that image.
“Our attacking mentality makes people think we're physical by being aggressive and going to the ball,” she said.
The NKU assault started in the eighth minute when Moore's shot went wide. Moore, the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year and whose 21 goals set a school record, was alone again with Sweeney in the 24th minute, but her shot went wide.
About 14 minutes later, Ruark's shot went over the crossbar.
NKU's main task on defense: contain Bison junior forward Nicole Vanden Bos, who led her team with 15 goals. NKU sophomore defenders Eva Broeg (Dixie Heights) and Jennifer Wilhelm (McNicholas) marked Vanden Bos, and sophomore keeper Lauren Piening (Anderson) saved just one shot to record her 16th shutout of the season.
“Coach (Sheehan) was saying (Vanden Bos) was their leading scorer,” Wilhelm said. “We felt confident we could shut her down. We just marked her tightly. I wouldn't let her turn.”
Goal: NKU-Geiman. Shutout: Piening (1 save). Records: NDSU 14-3-2, NKU 21-2.
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