Box Score

LACEY, Wash. — A bit shorthanded, the nationally-ranked Crusaders just kept on rolling.

Two of the team's captains — Rene Duevel and Stephen Davidson — missed Thursday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer contest at St. Martin's, yet 22^nd-ranked Northwest Nazarene still didn't miss a beat.

In the first start of his collegiate career, redshirt freshman Marshall Hartley netted the game winner 13 minutes, 39 seconds into the action, sparking a 3-0 win for the Crusaders over the Saints.

Fredy Razo then chipped in his sixth goal of the season 4:08 later, giving NNU (9-1-0 overall, 6-0 GNAC) a comfortable lead.

Maybe a bit too comfortable.

"After a great start, from a focus standpoint, we need to learn from today that we can't take our foot off the gas," said NNU head men's soccer coach Coe Michaelson, whose team has won eight straight games.

After dominating the opening 45 minutes — outshooting SMU 11-5 and taking that comfortable 2-0 lead — the Crusaders got a fight from the Saints in the second half.

SMU (2-8-0, 2-4-0) fired away at the NNU net, taking the first seven shots of the half until the Crusaders finally countered and iced the win when Razo blasted home the rebound off a Julio Castillo shot that was blocked in the 80^th minute.

"Credit to Saint Martin's, they gave us all we could handle for about 20 minutes to start the second half but fortunately we regained control and put away a third goal," Michaelson said.

NNU goalkeeper Alfredo E. Ontiveros helped keep the Crusaders in control, making five saves in the win to wrap up his fifth shutout of the season, and up his program record career total to 14 shutouts.

Castillo and Jaime Verdin each added an assist in the win for the Crusaders, who next face No. 6 Seattle Pacific on Saturday night in a colossal clash between Top 25-foes and the GNAC co-leaders.

"Now we can't wait for a huge match Saturday," Michaelson said.