Box Score
Shannon Becker tied the school's all-time goal scoring record but the Rangers were unable to overcome an early deficit and fell to 19th-ranked Northern Kentucky University, 3-2. Last season the teams met three times with the Rangers claiming two, one goal victories before advancing in the NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks. Once again the teams dueled to a one goal finish but this time the home standing Norse came out on top
Becker scored in the 50th minute to notch her 39th career goal, tying Bryanna Jurvis' career mark (1999-2001). The De Pere native found the net from just inside 40 yards out with a bounding ball that alluded NKU goalkeeper, Rachel Wood. Becker later added an assist, the 40th of her career, leaving her five short of that record. She is the school's all-time leading scorer with 118 points.
The loss drops the Rangers to 5-2 in conference play (and overall) while NKU improved to 6-1 in the league and 8-1 overall. Parkside will look to rebound on Sunday when they take on Bellarmine who is 7-0 and in first place in the GLVC.
NKU controlled the pace early and struck relatively early against the Rangers. The Norse got five corner kicks in the match's first eight minutes before scoring off of their sixth at the 15 minute mark. Hannah Adams laid the kick out in front of the net where Kristi Hofmeyer finished her first goal of the season with a header from eight yards out.
Northern Kentucky didn't give the Rangers a chance to breathe as they struck again less than five minutes later. Kelsey Laumann finished off a cross at 19:45 to make it 2-0 and put the Norse in control. It was Laumann's fifth goal of the season as Allison Ponzer and Kelsey Zwergel assisted.
Parkside was unable to get much going as Becker's shot at 32:56 was the first, and only, shot for the Rangers in the half. They were outshot 6-1 for the period before they charged back in the second half.
Becker's record tying goal was the initial shot of the half at 49:4, trimming the lead to 2-1.
NKU came back quick once again as Laumann got her second goal of the match at 56:20 on a cross from Ponzer. Her shot from 18 yards away into the top right corner of the net pushed the Norse lead back to two.
As the half continued the Rangers began to dominate possession and quickly got the deficit back down to one.
Kristen Benson, who returned after missing three games with an injury, got her first goal of the season at 60:31 to put Parkside back in business. Becker and
Madison Pickett assisted on a ball that caromed off the left post and past Wood to make the score 3-2.
Less than two minutes later Becker put another ball on net, this one stopped by Wood, for the first goalie save of the match for either team.
To add to the wildness of the second half, the match was delayed for 25 minutes at 64:32 due to an injury to the referee. After the stoppage the Rangers continued to control play but were not unable to get the tying goal. NKU did not get a shot off the rest of the way compared to six by the Rangers (two on goal) as the Norse held on for the victory.
Cassie Glodowski took the loss for Parkside in net, falling to 5-2 on the season. The loss also snapped the Rangers three game winning streak.
The team will now travel to Louisville for their match with Bellarmine. Kickoff with the Knights is set for 11:00 a.m.
