Box Score NAMPA, Idaho – The Crusaders simply ran out of time.

Battling back strong in the second half, the Northwest Nazarene women's soccer team closed to within a goal of perennial powerhouse Seattle Pacific, but the comeback effort ran out of time as the Falcons held on for a 2-1 win in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Thursday.

"To play a team that is almost always national ranked, and for them to not really earn a goal - and I don't think they did, I think we gave them two - that's a great step for this program," said NNU coach Mary Trigg.

Unfortunately for the Crusaders (1-8-3 overall, 0-6-3 GNAC), those two give-away goals came in the first half and gave the Falcons (9-4, 6-3) a 2-0 lead.

Laura Moore put the first ball in the net, tapping home a cross from Demi Waitley just 3:43 into the action.

A defensive turnover then gave Ali Martin a golden opportunity alone in front of NNU's goal, and she booted the ball home with 19:33 left in the first half.

Down, but not out, the Crusaders began controlling play in the second half, creating chance after chance.

Sarah Blum finally converted one of those chances after teammate Kelsey Martin flicked a ball forward to Blum.

Standing just inside the goal box, Blum blasted a perfect shot into the upper-left corner of the goal with 22:19 left on the clock, cutting the SPU lead to 2-1.

NNU kept charging, but could not find the equalizer, settling for a moral victory, but a disappointing result.

"It's disappointing to look at the result as a loss because it doesn't represent how hard we played in the second half," Trigg said. "We showed how we can play in the second half and showed we can compete with a nationally ranked team.

"I'm excited for our girls," she added. "Now we have to figure out how to be mentally strong for 90 minutes."

Argia Phillips made four saves in goal for NNU, which is back in action Saturday hosting Central Washington at noon.