Boxscore

NAMPA, Idaho - The Northwest Nazarene women's soccer team played even with GNAC leader and unbeaten Montana State-Billings, only to see a few unlucky bounces decide the outcome in the Yellowjackets' 1-0 league win on the NNU campus Saturday.

“Definitely disappointing,” NNU coach Jamie Lindvall said, “... that's the way a good game goes sometimes.”

Both teams traded chances in the first half, but neither team found the back of the net until the 68^th minute, when Jaucelyn Richter scored the game winner.

Katlyn Lokay had the first chance for the 'Jackets (8-0, 4-0 GNAC) off a Heidi Greenback cross, but couldn't tuck the ball inside the right post. Lokay managed to keep the ball in play, though, and sent a cross back to the left where Richter was waiting to head home the ball for a 1-0 score.

MSU-Billings goalie Alexandria Johnson then took over, finding herself in the right place at the right time twice late, as NNU (4-2, 1-3) pushed for the equalizer.

With 13 minutes left, Celina Mortensen crossed a ball to Jenny Field on the left of the goal, but Johnson lunged to block Field's point-blank shot.

And with two minutes left, Macey Vasquez's free kick from midfield found its way through the players in front of the net to Johnson, who on the ground, trapped the ball with her legs, then barely kept herself from rolling into her own net.

“Their keeper honestly made some good saves and kept us out of the net; couple times very, very narrowly,” Lindvall said.

“The reality is though, whether there's someone in goal or not, we have to be able to rise above and finish our opportunities,” he added. “We did a really good job of setting stuff up and we were in the right place, we were there to finish and whether (Johnson) meant to be there, she was there and we've just got to keep creating more opportunities.”

Johnson finished with four saves in the shutout, while her counterpart, Tanya Zickefoose, made eight saves in the Crusaders' goal.

The Crusaders will travel to Bellingham, Washington next Thursday to take on the Vikings of Western Washington at 7:30 p.m.