NAMPA – Samir Vejo spoiled what started out looking to be a very good day for the Crusaders.
The Western Washington senior forward scored all four goals for the Vikings, who weathered a fast start by Northwest Nazarene to grab a 4-2 win in Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer Saturday.
“It felt great, especially since we went down,” Vejo said. “This is the first time we came back.”
NNU (8-3-2, 1-3-1 GNAC) put the Vikes in an early hole as Alonso Avila dropped a pass back to Alex Mangeac who scored from 15 yards out just 8 minutes, 10 seconds into the game.
A goal that ignited the Crusaders as Western Washington keeper Cameron Copps-Tilley and his teammates had to be sharp to stop chances by Ben Mangeac and Theron Fereday before Brock Ogami blasted a shot off the crossbar and Alex Mangeac sent a chance just over the goal.
“We came out hard, that was really the crux of our pregame conversation was to come out with energy,” NNU coach Coe Michaelson said.
“Commitment was the word we talked a lot about today, and I think we did that.”
It turned out that NNU just was unlucky as the Crusaders outshot the Vikings 20-13, but couldn't convert as Copps-Tilley had six saves and got help from his teammates on two other stops.
“That's the game of soccer, it's not about how many chances you create, it's about how many you make,” Michaelson said.
Vejo seemed to make all his, turning the game around in the 17th minute when teammate Matt Pele was fouled in the NNU goal box, earning the Vikes (6-5-2, 2-1) a penalty kick that Vejo booted into the lower-left corner of the goal.
“I think it was huge 'cause our momentum shifted,” Vejo said of the PK goal, “... and allowed us to get our game going, and obviously we got the result.”
“When you're outplaying a team and a call that questionable is made, it can turn the momentum,” Michaelson said.
The Vikes took control with the momentum on their side as Michael Ricci found Vejo with a cross in the 26th minute for a 2-1 lead.
“We were unlucky not to be up two goals in the first five or 10 minutes, and probably even more unlucky to find ourselves down 2-1 10 minutes later when we felt we should have had a bit of a cushion, let alone a lead,” Michaelson said.
It only got worse, though, as a foul just outside the box 12:45 into the second half set up Vejo again, and he bent his shot around the NNU wall and inside the right post for a 3-1 score.
Vejo then capped his day with a goal in the 87th minute before the Crusaders netted a final score of their own on a Ben Mangeac to Alex Mangeac goal with 1:17 left.
“Honestly, it was a team effort,” Vejo said of his four goals, which ended up being just his second-best game of the season as he scored six times in a 10-0 win by the Vikes over Colorado Christian on Oct. 1. “My teammates played well and I just scored some goals.”
