Liberty came into the game second in Conference USA at 4-1-1, with their only loss to first place FIU.  The Flames managed 17 shot attempts and five shots on goal, and were turned away on all five.  The Flames lead the conference in shot attempts and are tied for first in goals scored.

“We had a game plan tonight. They have some very good attacking players and we felt like we needed to shut those players down,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said. “I thought our players did an excellent job of understanding and executing their individual roles and understanding our game plan as a team. We executed defensively very well tonight. I thought we were really disciplined in what we did.”

The Hilltoppers managed five shot attempts and just one shot on goal, held away from the goal by the Liberty defense.  This is the third straight game WKU has not scored a goal.

Senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis recorded five saves in the game.  It’s her fifth clean sheet of the season and 13th of her career.

The Hilltoppers move to 3-7-4 (1-2-4 C-USA).  With just two games before the C-USA Tournament, WKU sits eighth in the conference.

WKU will travel to Miami, Florida to play the FIU Panthers on Sunday, Oct. 27th.

The game can be watched on ESPN +

Sports Reporter Michael Givner Jr. can be reached at Michael.givner586@topper.wku.edu

The Hilltoppers were tormented by the Blue Raider defense, being denied on all four shot-on -goal attempts and missing all 11 shots.  The Hilltoppers committed nine fouls in the game.

“Give credit to MTSU,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said. “We played a really good MTSU team tonight who went at us in the second half and was very clinical when it mattered most.”

The Blue Raiders hit on two of their 22 shot attempts, with one in the 27th minute and the other in the 54th minute.  MTSU managed 10 shots on goal, with senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis managing eight saves in the match, just one save shy of her career high.

The loss drops WKU to 3-7-3 (1-2-3 C-USA).

“We will regroup to welcome another really good Liberty team next week,” Neidell said.“We have our backs up against the wall and will be ready.”

The Hilltoppers will return to Bowling Green to play Liberty on Saturday, Oct. 19th at 6pm.

Sports reporter Michael Givner Jr. can be reached at Michael.givner586@topper.wku.edu

The two teams could not convert on their 18 combined shot attempts. Both teams had four shots on goal, but the Hilltoppers threatened more, out-shooting the Gamecocks 10-8.

Senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis had four saves in the game, keeping all of the Gamecocks shot attempts out of the net.

“We’ve gotten progressively better every game defensively,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said. “We’re more organized than we were in the beginning of the season.”

The Hilltoppers move to 3-6-3 (1-1-3 C-USA). With a rough September in the rearview mirror, they have looked much more comfortable thanks to the defense. WKU sits at fourth in the conference, tied with Kennesaw State and behind FIU, Sam Houston State  and New Mexico State.

“Kendall Wade’s playing great, Abby Wiedermann’s playing great, Maddie Davis is playing great, Brooke, Aspen, everyone we’ve put back there is playing great,” Neidell said. “As I always say, defending is a team effort. From the forwards to the midfielders to the backs. I thought we did a sufficient enough job to keep them out of the back of the net today. So, that was good to see.”

WKU will take a week’s break before a short road trip to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to play Middle Tennessee State. The game is set for Sunday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m.

Sports reporter Michael Givner Jr. can be reached at michael.givner586@topper.wku.edu

It’s never over until it’s over. With three minutes left in the game, Rummo sank the tying goal off of a near goal from sophomore Georgia Liapis.

“Really, really proud of Lily [Rummo], that’s two for her in the last two games,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said. “It’s good to see her come alive. She’s a great player.”

The Hilltoppers move to 3-6-2 (1-1-2 Conference USA) on the season. They sit at fifth in the conference.

Both teams went scoreless in the first half. Kennesaw State scored first in the 67th minute, but the Hilltopper defense stifled them the rest of the game, holding them to just three shot attempts in the second half.

“We showed some determination in coming from behind,” Neidell said. “That’s something that is certainly tough in the game of soccer because it’s hard to score goals. It was a team effort to come from behind. We just need to be a little bit grittier in the final part of the field, which is the danger area, to get after it, create some chaos and score some more goals in that part of the field.”

The Hilltoppers will look to carry this momentum into a win as they will host Jacksonville State on Sunday, Oct. 6 at the WKU Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

Sports reporter Michael Givner Jr. can be reached at michael.givner586@topper.wku.edu

For photos of the game, click here.

The Hilltoppers picked up their first win in September, snapping a streak of six games without a win.  It’s the teams fourth game this season in which they’ve held a team scoreless.

The win gives WKU their first Conference USA win, moving them to 3-6-1 (1-1-1 CUSA).  The team is 4-3-1 all time versus the Miners, and 2-1-1 all time in El Paso.

WKU’s first goal found the back of the net off the leg of Lily Rummo in the 24th minute, her first of the season and sixth of her career.  

The Hilltoppers scored their second in the 40th minute off of a penalty kick.  Fellow grad student Olivia Cooke was bumped into by the UTEP goalie, which earned the goalie a red card.  Cooke scored her second goal of the season and fifth of her career on the penalty.

Senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis racked up all of WKU’s seven saves, holding the Miners off in the second half, protecting the net from 13 Miner shots and seven shots on goal.  

Davis now has 101 saves in her career as she picked up her third clean sheet of the season.

WKU will return to Bowling Green to host C-USA newcomer Kennesaw State on Thursday, Oct. 3rd at 7 p.m at the WKU Soccer Complex.

This is the Hilltoppers sixth straight game without a win and fifth loss in six attempts, dropping WKU to 2-6-1 (0-1-1 Conference USA) on the season.

The Aggie defense was stifling all 90 minutes, holding WKU to just one shot in the first half and seven for the game.  Three Aggie saves on four WKU shots on goal were enough for NMSU to hold on for the win.

Senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis, who won C-USA Goalkeeper of the week earlier in the week, had three saves on the night.

NMSU opened up scoring with a goal in the 29th minute, cashing in one of their six first half shots on goal.  They would continue their aggressive play into the second half, adding eight shots. The Aggies scored again in the 49th minute.

Sophomore Rebecca Roth scored in the 73rd minute putting WKU on the board.  However, the Hilltoppers only got two more shot attempts the rest of the game.

The Hilltoppers will end their three game road trip in El Paso, Texas against the UTEP Miners on Sept. 29 at 1 pm.  

“Tonight was a really good college soccer game,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said.  

WKU moved to 2-5-1 on the season and 0-4-1 versus LA Tech on the road all-time.  The team is 0-3-1 on the road this season.

LA Tech outshout WKU on total shots 14-13. The Hilltoppers had more shots on goal, leading that column 6-4.  Sophomore Georgia Lipis led the team with four shots and senior Kayla Meyer had three.

Senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis had four saves in the game and earned her second shutout of the season.

“Overall I’m really proud of our kids,” Neidell said. “This is a tough trip and glad to see us come down here and compete.”

WKU will play part two of their road stretch in Las Cruces, New Mexico to take on the New Mexico State Aggies on Thursday, Sept. 26th

“We just need to stay the course now,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said.“I know our results haven’t been what we’ve wanted them to be, but a new year starts next week. We’ve been practicing really hard. Our practices have been great. I think it showed in tonight’s game. We just need to stay the course and keep getting after it in practice. Just keep getting better every day,”

In the off-and-on rain, WKU found themselves down 2-1 for the second game in a row, and were unable to find an equalizing score.  The Bobcats scored first in the ninth minute, continuing the trend of opposing teams scoring quickly.

WKU tied the game in the 20th minute with a goal from senior Kayla Meyer, her fifth of the season.  The Bobcats took the lead in the 29th minute and used stout defense to hold off WKU from tying it up.  The Hilltoppers only managed seven shots in the game compared to the Bobcats’ 16.

Emma Tompkins made her first start of the season against Ohio, securing five saves.

The loss is WKU’s fourth in a row.

The Hilltoppers are now 2-5-0 on the season to conclude non-conference play.  They will hit the road for three straight games to start conference play, starting with a match versus Louisiana Tech.  The game will kick-off next Friday, Sept. 20th at 7 p.m.

After being outscored 11-0 in their last two road games to Arkansas and Dayton, the Hilltoppers managed to find the back of the net, but were unable to score an equalizer against the Red Wolves.

“For us, we haven’t been a team that’s been very good in the last several years where we’re down a goal or two goals,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said.  “To be able to fight back and put ourselves in a position to possibly tie the game up was great,”

Arkansas State scored out of the gate, finding the back of the net 3:18 into the game.  The Hilltoppers were denied an answering goal in the first half, unable to score on their four shot attempts.

The Red Wolves controlled the ball and the flow of the game throughout the first half, and this stayed true in the second.  WKU out shot the Red Wolves 6-3 in the second half and got their only save of the game by senior goalkeeper Maddie Davis.  Arkansas State scored their second goal of the game in the 71st minute.

However, 36 seconds later, senior Kayla Meyer answered, putting WKU within one of the Red Wolves.  This gave Meyer her fourth goal of the season and 11th of her career.

The Arkansas State defense stayed strong, earning the narrow victory after a Meyer goal missed the net.

Neidell addressed some of the miscues for the Hilltoppers.  

“I think we had a lot of wasted opportunities where we had people open and chose to do different things with the ball. Just couldn’t execute,” Neidell said. “We need to clean that stuff up and be better defensively.”

The Hilltoppers will conclude non-conference play in a match versus Ohio.  The defending MAC Champions will come into town on Thursday for senior night at the WKU Soccer Complex.

Sports reporter Michael Givner Jr. can be reached at michael.givner586@topper.wku.edu.

Dayton dominated the time of possession all night and forced the Hilltoppers to play from behind in WKU’s 3-0 loss against the Flyers. 

“We played another good team tonight,” Head Coach Jason Neidell said in a press release. “We came out in the first half and still looked rattled from our match against Arkansas last Sunday. Dayton punished us in the first half for that. We engaged the game in a better way in the second half, but it was too little too late.”

Few positive moments can be taken away from the loss. Graduate Olivia Cooke had four shots but was the only player with more than one shot, accounting for half of the Hilltoppers scoring attempts. 

Despite coming in as the scoring leader on the Hilltoppers, senior Kayla Meyer was kept away from the goal all night, only managing one shot. 

If nothing else, WKU can carry some defensive momentum into their next matchup, as the Hilltoppers kept Dayton off the scoreboard in the second half.

After the loss against the Flyers, the Hilltoppers drop to 2-3-0 on the year. 

WKU returns to Bowling Green on Sunday to take on Arkansas State. 

Arkansas State has struggled to score this season, only scoring five goals all year.

Sports reporter Nathan Mueller can be reached at Nathan.mueller103@topper.wku.edu