Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. This week’s featured team is the 2010 Northern Kentucky men’s soccer squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 12: 2010 Northern Kentucky Men’s Soccer
SEASON SUMMARY
The 2010 Northern Kentucky University men’s soccer program finished 20-2-3 on the season, including a 9-2-3 mark in GLVC action. The Norse opened the season unbeaten in their first nine matches (7-0-2), with five of those victories coming in GLVC action. After a home loss to Lewis, NKU proceeded to go 4-1-1 to close out league play. The league record was good enough for a .750 winning percentage, a mark that was shared by Lewis (10-3-1) and Missouri S&T (9-2-3) during the first season the GLVC recognized a regular-season champion in soccer. As tri-champions, NKU would enter the GLVC Championship Tournament as the No. 2 seed, but it earned hosting rights for the semifinals and championship match after top-seed Lewis was upset by No. 8 Indianapolis, 3-0, and the Norse beat No. 7 Rockhurst, 2-1. In the semifinals, Northern Kentucky needed overtime to get past tri-champion and three-seed Missouri S&T, 2-1, and then beat UIndy in the finals, 3-0. In the NCAA Tournament, following two tightly contested regional matchups against GLVC opponents, including a first-round 2-1 overtime win over Quincy and a 3-2 second-round result over No. 21 Missouri S&T, NKU took control of its next two postseason contests. In the national quarterfinal, the Norse blanked No. 14 West Virginia Wesleyan 3-0, and topped No. 10 Dowling by a 4-1 count in the semis. That set up a national title showdown against No. 5 Rollins College in a wintry atmosphere in Louisville, Kentucky, that played more to the advantage of the Norse than their opponents from Winter Park, Fla. The snowy weather seemed to help the Norse, who jumped out to a 2-0 lead at intermission on goals from Jack Little (9:06) and Jordan Grant (32:59). Eight minutes into the second half, however, Rollins responded with two goals to tie the game. The game-winner came at the 64:16 mark on a header from GLVC Freshman of the Year Michael Holder – a player head coach John Basalyga referenced as the missing piece needed to complete the team puzzle. Senior Mike Lavric, a four-year starter who shattered every single NKU goalkeeper record during his career, earned nine stops in the 3-2 victory. Senior Steven Beattie concluded his season with 26 goals and 16 assists and his third-straight GLVC Offensive Player of the Year accolade.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Steven Beattie
- NSCAA Ron Lenz National Player of the Year
- Two-Time Daktronics National Player of the Year (2008, 2010)
- Two-Time NSCAA All-America First Team (2008, 2010)
- Three-Time GLVC Offensive Player of the Year (2008, 2009, 2010)
- Four-Time All-GLVC Selection (2007-3rd, 2008-1st, 2009-1st, 2010-1st)
- Netted 184 career points and 77 career goals
- Owns nine single-season and six career school records
- Inducted into NKU Hall of Fame in 2017
- Inducted into GLVC Hall of Fame in 2018
Paul Andrews
Michael Holder
- GLVC Freshman of the Year
- All-GLVC Third Team
Mike Bartlett
- All-GLVC Third Team (Second Team in 2011)
Nick Chiarot
Michael Lavric
- School record holder for wins (61) and shutouts (26)
- Second all-time in school history with a 0.86 career goals-against-average
- 2008 All-GLVC Third Team
LASTING LEGACY
The 2010 Northern Kentucky squad not only earned its first NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer National Championship, but it was also a first for the GLVC. Steven Beattie, who was inducted into the GLVC Hall of Fame last year as arguably the most decorated soccer player to ever play in the league, tied a GLVC record with 26 goals on the season, came one assist shy of matching the assists mark of 17, and shattered the previous league record of 59 points with 68 markers during that magical season. A year after the national championship run, Basalyga’s Norse made one final run in the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament before the school resigned from the GLVC and reclassified as a full-time Division I member in all sports. This time, NKU was denied the opportunity to defend its title as it was eliminated in the second round in a 2-0 defeat to Rockhurst. It seemed as if the outcome and timing was a passing-of-the-torch moment in GLVC soccer, as NKU’s exit paved the way for Rockhurst to lead the league’s national title runs in the future, just as the Norse benefited a few years prior when GLVC perennial power and 2004 NCAA finalist SIU Edwardsville moved to Division I following the 2007 campaign. Since the Norse won the 2010 title, Rockhurst advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2011 and the national semifinals in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, with Quincy securing a trip to the national semis in 2014.