NAMPA – The Crusaders struggles to score continued Saturday, spoiling the Northwest Nazarene women's soccer team's hopes of an upset.
Lucy Miller scored three goals and Molly Shannon netted two more for Western Washington, which pulled away for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference win as NNU couldn't find the back of the net.
“If we could put the ball in the net earlier we would be winning,” NNU coach Jamie Lindvall said. “Our girls know that and they keep working.”
The Crusaders (1-11-1, 0-5 GNAC) worked hard early, but a turnover on a goal kick by Pip Herman ended up putting NNU in a quick hole when Miller grabbed the kick from Herman and found Shannon for a wide-open chance in the ninth minute.
Miller pushed the score to 2-0 in the 33rd minute with an unassisted goal, but NNU proved undaunted and tried to battle back into the game early in the second half.
Vikings keeper Kylie Broadbent answered the NNU surge, grabbing a Susana Contreras header off a Jenna Johnson corner, then Stacey Beckman booted a tough-angle shot just over the goal.
The Crusaders best chance then came in the 53rd minute off another Johnson corner, but Liz Gross couldn't connect on pass with an open net in front of her.
“We're creating corners, which is good, and we're creating opportunities,” Lindvall said. “I think we're moving forward well as a team and creating opportunities, we're just still just not always capitalizing on them.
“Capitalizing on opportunities is something we've just got to get better at,” he added. “Something we can hopefully continue to improve on.”
The Vikes (11-2, 6-0) quickly countered to ice the win as Claire Morgan fed a pass up the middle to Shannon who split the Crusader defense and booted home the game's third goal in the 54th minute.
“That third goal, they scored a nice goal, maybe we could have defended a little better, but still scored a nice goal and it's like the nail in the coffin that third goal,” Lindvall said.
“It's kind of hard after that, it sort of becomes a letdown as far as their moral, and it's hard to take.”
Miller added two more goals after that, in the 77th and 89th minutes, to finish off the win for the Vikings, who outshot NNU 20-6. Both keepers finished with four saves.
“Props to our girls for keeping they're heads up and each game coming out with confidence,” Lindvall added of his team's effort in the setback.
