Moyes scores first goal in Norse victory

 

The NKU men’s soccer team hosted the Dayton Flyers on a rainy Wednesday night, and won 1-0 for their fourth win this season and third consecutive shutout. 

The win came behind a strong performance from the Norse goal keeper Jim Barkei, who recorded three saves, including two that were crucial coming down the stretch in the second half.

NKU was dominant in the first half with seven shots total, four of those being on the goal while Dayton managed just three shots with only one shot on goal.  

The lone goal of the game came in the sixteenth minute for the Norse after Tom Suchecki’s original shot was saved, but Harvey Moyes was able to follow up for the score. It was his first goal of the season.

The Flyers were without their leading scorer Thor Helgason, who stayed in Dayton for the game due to illness. Helgason already has three goals in only six starts this season. Riddle says the same approach would have been used regardless if Helgason played or not.

“It was nice to not see his name on the starting lineup, but they’ve still got some very talented players,” head coach Stu Riddle said.

The Norse showed their resilience late in the game as Dayton had four regular starters check in with 15 minutes to play. In the 89th minute, Rok Taneski beat the Norse defense, but his shot went right of the goal and kept the Flyers scoreless.

“We continue to make life hard on ourselves,” Riddle said. “We let teams hang around and I thought Dayton deserved an equalizer tonight, especially at the end they had that really good chance to score.”

The win for the Norse is their first against Dayton in men’s soccer history.  NKU had lost all three previous matchups to the Flyers. The next game for NKU will be against Cleveland State in a Horizon league matchup on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. in Cleveland.