Come Saturday, most of the Greater Cincinnati region's soccer fans will have their collective gaze fixed on Nashville where FC Cincinnati will open the 2021 Major League Soccer regular season.
But Highland Heights, Kentucky, and the Northern Kentucky University campus should also command a fair amount of attention soccer-wise as NKU will host on Saturday two Horizon League championship matches that could cap banner seasons for the Norse women's and men's programs.
The top-seeded NKU women (8-1-1, 7-0-1 Horizon League) host second-seeded Milwaukee with the conference title on the line while the NKU men (7-1-0 Horizon League) face the same stakes against Milwaukee, the No. 3-seed on the men's side.
Victories would see head women's coach Bob Sheehan and head men's coach Stuart Riddle – both of whom received Horizon League Coach of the Year awards – earn NCAA Tournament berths for their respective programs.
For Sheehan, who has led the NKU women's program for more than two decades, the trip to the NCAA Tournament would be his second while in charge of the Norse at the Division I level.
The tournament appearance would be NKU's first since 2016, the first year NKU moved to the Division I ranks. It would also reaffirm the Norse regular-season championship.
NKU followed up on the regular-season triumph with a Horizon League tournament semifinal victory, a 3-0 rout of the University of Illinois-Chicago at NKU on Sunday.
"Our players have demonstrated a high level of commitment throughout an unbelievably challenging year," Sheehan said. "We are very excited to host a Horizon League championship match for the first time in our six years in the league."
Sheehan's pulled off the program's feats with a roster comprised almost entirely of local products including 10 women with Cincinnati listed as their hometown and 20 Ohioans, mostly from the Greater Cincinnati area.
On the men's side, Riddle, now in his fourth season in charge of NKU, sees his team enter new territory with each step it takes this postseason, including the postseason berth itself.
The men's regular-season title, built on the back of steady progress over Riddle's NKU tenure, was the first in the program's history since rising to the Division I level.
After defeating UIC on the road March 30 to take the regular season crown, Riddle's side advanced to host Milwaukee in the Horizon League tournament when the semifinal against Wright State was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within that program.
The NKU men's season also included a program-record eight postseason awards including four all-conference nods.
Riddle's recruiting base has more international flavor, which has been the trend for years in high-level men's college soccer. Still, like Sheehan, Riddle's roster has a home for locals.
Riddle has eight Ohioans on his team, including three transfers from the University of Cincinnati.
The former UC players came to Riddle after their program folded during the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Former Bearcat Ben Hegge, of Loveland and a Archishop Moeller alum, scored the regular-season, title-clinching goal late in the UIC victory.
The other two UC transfers – Kyle Healy (Cleveland) and Sam Robinson (Oxford, Ohio) – have started every game for NKU.
An NCAA Tournament berth on top of everything else would push NKU, now ranked the No. 23 team in the United States, toward a season that could only be described as historic.
"We haven't been lucky to get into the championship match or even hosting it," Riddle said. " We clearly were the best team in the regular season by virtue of being crowned regular-season champions. We've stressed the need to be adaptable and flexible all season and this is no different. To host the first conference final at the DI level will be special for us all and everyone involved with the program is excited."
The NKU women kick off their Horizon League title match Saturday at 1 p.m. at the NKU Soccer Stadium. The men's game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
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