Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho — A historic run came to an end Thursday afternoon, but not without the Crusaders putting up a fight.

A second-half surge by visiting Seattle Pacific snapped the longest unbeaten streak in Northwest Nazarene women's soccer history as the Falcons scored a 4-1 win in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on the NNU campus.

"It was a tale of two halves," said NNU head women's soccer coach Mary Trigg.

The Crusaders (2-2-3 overall, 1-1-1 GNAC), unbeaten in their last five games — the longest such stretch since the program began in 1985 — played equal to the Falcons (4-1-1, 2-0-1) over the opening 45 minutes, responding to an early 1-0 deficit.

SPU took the lead when Shayla Page snuck a ball just over the goal-line following a corner kick in the 13^th minute.

NNU promptly responded, though, scoring 2 minutes, 39 seconds later as Sarah Blum stole a ball on the right side of the SPU goal box, sent a pass into the middle to teammate Nicole Nsa who turned and fired the ball off the crossbar and in for a 1-1 tie.
 

"Great first half for us with a combination goal between Blum and Nicole," said Trigg, whose team tried to break the tie with wave after wave of offense only to see a half-dozen offside calls stall the team's momentum.

The opening 10 minutes of the second half saw more of the same, including a diving save by NNU goalkeeper Daniele Ortiz — who made seven saves in the game — to keep the game knotted, 1-1.

But with 32:18 left to play, the Falcons broke through with a give-and-go goal from Alexa Diaz to Ashley Shaw.

The Falcons added on two more after that, a penalty-kick goal from Isabel Farrell and a goal by Laura Moore, spoiling the Crusaders historic 5-game unbeaten streak.

"We went away from the game-plan in the second half and got our heads down after a PK call," Trigg said.

"But we have a lot to learn from this, and it's always great to see where you're at against a great team like SPU."

The Crusaders get a chance to put what they learn into practice quickly as NNU looks to begin a new unbeaten streak when it hosts Central Washington at 1 p.m. on Saturday.