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CINCINNATI - In front of another record crowd, the University of Cincinnati women's soccer team once again saw Julie Gavorski find the back of the net, this time much earlier in the match, as the Bearcats held on to down visiting Northern Kentucky, 1-0, in the inaugural Riverboat Rivalry Monday night at Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats (2-0-0), who saw Gavorski win Friday's match with Dayton in the 110', played to a crowd of 4,722 fans in UC's first match with the Norse (0-2-0) in program history.
// 9' - KNOCKING ON THE DOOR
The Bearcats opened the match on the offensive and continually pushed toward the Norse goal. In the 9', UC sent in its third of four-consecutive corner kicks, only to see NKU keeper Emily Lohmann turn a pair of attempts away to preserve the scoreless draw.
// 18' - GAVORSKI NETS ANOTHER
Despite being turned away from the corner, the Bearcats found the back of the net in the 18' in a quick series of play. Taylor Pavlika got things underway as her throw-in came from three yards close to the touch line, landing at the feet of Bri Costigan at the top of the 18-yard box, who turned and played it centrally to Holyn Alf. From 20-yards out, Alf played the ball on one touch, dropping the pass inside the 6-yard box where Gavorski's full volley struck the ball past the sliding keeper and into the net for the 1-0 lead.
// 60' - SPEED NEARLY DOES IT
The second half saw more of the same from the Bearcats as the offense pushed the tempo and continued to look run. In the 60', freshman Kyleigh Dominguez broke through the defense and worked her way to the left side of the box before side-stepping the keeper. Once past, Dominguez let one fly, only to see Taylor Spaulding of NKU clear the ball from the 6-yard box and keep UC's advantage at 1-0.
// 67' - NORSE PUSHING
With nearly 25 minutes to play, NKU found a surge and looked to tie the score. In the 67', the Norse pushed the ball down the left side of the pitch and eventually moved in toward the goal. A shot was turned away by Natalie Smith, who earned the shutout on the night, making one of her five saves on the breakaway attempt.
// 78' - ONE NOTE ENOUGH
Already on the score sheet with the lone goal of the contest, Gavorski nearly added another, this time collecting a pass in the middle of the penalty area and putting the ball into the net. However, the offside flag was raised and nullified the goal, leaving UC to an eventually 1-0 victory over the Norse.
// NOTES
• The 4,722 fans not only marked the second match in a row the home attendance record had been broken. After 1,467 fans came out to see the Bearcats defeat Dayton Friday night in a thrilling 2-1, double overtime affair at Gettler Stadium, the huge crowd came to Nippert Monday to better the mark.
• The attendance total not only stands as a UC record, but it also is a record for a collegiate women's soccer match in the state of Ohio. The previous mark came back in 2005 when Ohio State faced Penn State in front of 2,079 fans at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
• Gavorski now has two game-winners on the year, already equalling her out put from 2015 and nearly doubling her career total of three she had entering the season.
• With the shut out victory, Smith now has the fifth-most wins in program history at 22 and the sixth-most shutouts at 12.2.
• Alf's assist on Gavorski's goal was the first point earned by the rookie in her second collegiate match. Through two matches, both Alf (one point) and Gabrielle LoPresti (two points) have started as true freshmen and recorded at least one point.
• The match at Nippert was not the first for the women. In fact, it was the 63rd all-time as the Bearcats called the historic venue home from 1980 through 1989, the first 10 years of varsity competition for UC. With the win tonight, the Bearcats are now 53-8-2 all-time at Nippert.
// UPCOMING
The Bearcats will hit the road for a pair of matches this weekend, starting what will be a four-match road trip. First up, UC will visit Evansville at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. in Evansville), facing the Purple Aces in a match that will be streamed live on ESPN3 (Watch ESPN app). The first weekend on the road comes to a close Sunday with UC facing the Purdue Boilermakers in a 1 p.m. contest in West Lafayette, Ind.