LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Well, the final score wasn't 1-1 at least.

But the bottom line was still the same.

On Thursday night at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium, the Bellarmine University women's soccer team recorded its fourth straight tie to open 2021 after a scoreless deadlock with Northern Kentucky.

The previous three stalemates for Bellarmine (0-0-4) were all 1-1 draws.

"I'm kind of out of things to talk about at this point. I'm not sure if we're the best winless team in the country or the worst undefeated team in the country. Maybe we should do a poll on that," joked Knights Coach Chris Tinius.

It's probably fair to say that Bellarmine was fortunate to come away even against Northern Kentucky (1-3-1), its former Division II nemesis when both were members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Norse finished with a 19-9 advantage in shots, including 13-2 on frame.

Senior goalkeeper Elyssa Francis piled up a career-high 12 saves for Bellarmine. The three-time All-Conference performer had little trouble on several of those opportunities, but the Norse also unloaded several low, well-struck attempts that required Francis to make the right read off short and in-between hops off the turf to successfully snatch them up. She also had a brilliant kick save.

Bellarmine didn't attempt a shot in the second half, but the Knights were active in the first overtime and had four chances. Senior midfielder Regan Kommor was slightly high on a one-touch after a nice build-up from sophomore forward Sophie Bish and senior midfielder Sarah Buse.

That nearly ended it, but Northern Kentucky had a shot clang off the crossbar in the first extra session as well. There wasn't quite as much activity in the second overtime, but the Norse came pretty close to converting off a desperation corner kick as time expired.

The clean sheet was Bellarmine's first of the season, and the Knights definitely worked for it against an NKU squad that went 8-1-2 last season and captured the Horizon League regular-season title.

"Generally speaking, it was another solid effort and our young ladies battled over 100 yards of the field," Tinius said. "We got more numbers in the box at times, but the one time we really went at them with total conviction over the last 20 yards was Sophie's run at the very end, which led to Buse's cross and Regan's near-miss. If we can get that mentality five more times a game, we may get ourselves over the hump. We're doing a lot of other things well and finally got our first shutout."

Bellarmine plays next Thursday at Miami (Ohio).

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights) and Facebook (BUKnights).