Boxscore
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Northwest Nazarene's
Stacey Beckman scored the equalizer in the 62nd-minute and the Crusaders battled through overtime to preserve a 1-1 draw at Western Washington University on Thursday night in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match played at Orca Field on the Whatcom Community College campus.
"A great show of character for us today," commented NNU head coach Jamie Lindvall. "Playing with injuries and the weather conditions, to take the number one team in the conference to a draw was a quality effort."
The weather may have been the biggest story of the night as both teams battled winds that exceeded 35 miles-per-hour and guests to near 50 mph. The contest was halted for about 20 minutes early in the second half due to a power outage, and was stopped again later in the half when the wind knocked over the goal at the north end, forcing it to be replaced. Two people were then put behind each goal to hold down the goal supports for the rest of the contest.
Despite the wind, the Crusaders (3-11-4, 1-9-1 GNAC) dealt the Vikings (10-4-4, 7-1-3 GNAC) a blow with the tie, forcing the Vikings to win on Saturday in Billings to have a shot at the post-season.
Tied 0-0 at the half, the Vikings came out with the wind in the second period and opened the scoring in the 49th-minute when Molly Shannon scored from seven yards out after midfielder Jenny Barton sent a cross from the left side.
But the Crusaders evened the score with just under 29-minutes left in regulation when Beckman hit a volley from the top of the penalty area that grazed the crossbar and dropped into the net to tie the match at 1-1.
The Vikings out-shot the Crusaders 40-7 but NNU goalkeeper Tanya Zickefoose made a season-high 17 saves for the Crusaders, while Western's Kylie Broadbent had four saves, all in the first half.
The Crusaders will now travel to Seattle Pacific University for their final match of the season on Saturday night with a chance to play the playoff spoiler. A Crusader win or tie against SPU would effectively knock SPU out of the GNAC title race and the automatic post-season bid that comes as a reward for winning the conference championship, bringing WWU back into the playoff automatic-bid picture if the Vikings win at MSU-Billings.
