TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State women's soccer faced off with the Northern Kentucky Norse inside Memorial Stadium. The Sycamores defeated the defending Horizon League Champions by a score of 2-1.

"That's a really good team we just beat. I'm proud of the kids and I think the kids who came in off the bench did a really nice job of raising the level for us and Casidy Simonis came in and started and had a great day, so I think our senior leadership was really good today," said head coach Julie Hanley.

The Norse came out hot in the first half and took control of the speed of play right from the whistle. In the sixth minute of play Jessica Frey headed in a cross from Payton Naylor to give NKU an early lead.

Indiana State continued to struggle to break the relentless defensive efforts of the Norse.

The Sycamores backline remained strong as well with Kasey Wallace and Katie Sullivan stepping up and blocking multiple shots. Hannah Sullivan also remained steady making four saves.

Indiana State was able to gain momentum and earn a corner kick in the 19^th minute. Caitlyn Eddy sent a beautiful ball to the back post finding senior Casidy Simonis who volleyed it into the back of the net knotting the score up at 1-1.

The score remained tied going into halftime.

Starting the second half neither team was able to gain any momentum going forward. The Sycamores remained solid defensively not allowing the Norse any threatening chances.

Eddy, Simonis and Jensen Margheim kept control of the central midfield for Indiana State, but every play in the final third was off by inches.

The Sycamores once again picked up the pace and gained control of the speed of play late in the second half. Margheim and Wells all had solid shots on goal for Indiana State, but were unable to capitalize on any chances.

This all changed for the Sycamores in the 84^th minute when Tessa Leong found herself on a breakaway down the right flank. Leong slotted a cross into the box where freshman Alina Steffen slid in just beating an NKU defender for a goal. This gave ISU a late 2-1 lead.

"We improve every day and have a lot of energy and tonight we gave it 110%. I was trying to get any touch on the ball and I ran front post and got a touch on it and saw it went it. I know Purdue is a great team and this is a great team and we are going to go in with everything we've got on Sunday," said freshman Steffen.

Indiana State will be back in action on Sunday Aug. 27^th for their first road match against Purdue at 1 p.m.

For the latest information on the Sycamore Soccer team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.