Box Score Box Score (.html) I Box Score (.pdf) I Photo Gallery I Chris Johnson Postgame Interview

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI women's soccer team squandered a number of quality scoring chances and saw visiting Northern Kentucky push across a goal in the waning seconds of the first half as the Jaguars dropped a 1-0 count to the Norse on a sweltering Friday night (Sept. 5) at Michael A. Carroll Stadium. NKU's Stacie Volker scored the game-winner in the 45th minute, poking a shot just inside the right post with just 25 seconds left before halftime. The win pushed NKU to 2-1-1 to start the year while IUPUI fell to 1-4-1.

While Volker's shot was the determining factor in the outcome, the Jaguars walked away knowing the left numerous opportunities on the table.

"Twenty-five seconds to go and we think we're going into halftime 0-0, which would be a very fair result for the first half," IUPUI Head Coach Chris Johnson said. "The ball gets in, gets down inside the six, our keeper goes down and to be honest, I couldn't tell you what happened after that.

"We've got to do a better job of marking in there and do a better job of just getting the ball out."

The Jaguars peppered NKU early, getting four shots on goal in the opening 20-plus minutes, all of which resulted in Tanner Ruberg saves. In the 22nd minute, sophomore Catherine Raster put a right-footed strike on frame, only to see the attempt cleared off the back line by an NKU defender. The score stayed even until a late corner kick resulted in the game's lone goal. NKU's Hanna Pateryn sent the ball to the near post, where Kulovitz was shielded by her own defender and Volker. Volker's first touch was negated by the defense, but she was able to get another touch, pushing a shot over the endline.

Determined to get even, the Jaguars continued to throw numbers forward at the start of the second half. Freshman Hayley Shelton had a fantastic opportunity go wide right from inside the penalty area in the 51st minute. The Jaguars' best chance of the game came in the 72nd minute when Kalli Shepler-Tucker played Tori Minnich in behind the NKU defense.

Ruberg challenged off her back line, but Minnich side-stepped to her left, leaving an empty net as she angled left. The sophomore forward took an additional touch before rolling a shot off the left post and back onto the field of play. In the 85th minute, Minnich had another decent chance after Krissy Kirkhoff slid a slick pass to her from the middle of the box. This time, Minnich's shot was lined just over the crossbar. 

IUPUI's final good look came in the 89th minute when Meghan Day created an opportunity by feigning a shot, stepping to her left and then hitting a rocket from distance. However, the shot went just over the crossbar, ending the threat.

"We're not getting outplayed and we're not getting outshot," Johnson said. "We're creating the opportunities. We've got to believe in the system and believe in what we're trying to do and continue to just keep plugging away at it. It's going to happen.

"I think we've got the right players out there creating the right opportunities. They've just got to put them away - somebody's got to step up and win a game for us."

IUPUI outshot the Norse 20-14 and 8-5 on frame. Ruberg made six saves for NKU and Brooke Schocker made a save in just more than seven minutes of work at the start of the second half. Kulovitz was credited with four stops in the loss.

The Jaguars will hit the road on Sunday (Sept. 7) when they take on Eastern Illinois at 2:00 p.m. Eastern at Lakeside Field.