Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho – Heartbreaking. Frustrating. Unbelievable.

None of those words seemed fitting for how Saturday ended for the Northwest Nazarene women's soccer team, which saw the game slip away with 1 second left in overtime.

Central Washington's Hadli Farrand got to a loose ball in the Crusaders' goal-box after a free kick in the fleeting seconds and booted it in, lifting the Wildcats to a miraculous 3-2, comeback win over NNU in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at Finbeiner Park on the NNU campus.

"This one hurts," NNU women's soccer head coach Mary Trigg said. "We weren't good enough today."
 

Early on, though, the Crusaders (2-3-3 overall, 1-2-1 GNAC) were fantastic, dominating play and jumping in front 1-0 just 9 minutes, 1 second into the game.

Ashley Cook-Cox opened the scoring, kicking in a goal after the Wildcats failed to clear away a long free kick by NNU's Kayla Williams.

NNU rode that momentum for another 20 minutes and added to its lead when Laura Seymour sent a long pass upfield to Lexi Fesenbek, who found Nicole Nsa on the left side of the goal-box.

Nsa booted home the ball for a 2-0 lead with 16:53 left until halftime, and it looked like the Crusaders were well on their way to an easy win.

Instead, the Wildcats (3-5-0, 2-2-0) stepped up their game, getting some momentum themselves when Lauren Duty scored in the 39^th minute.

CWU kept pushing the attack in the second half looking for the tying goal, and Farrand finally netting it for the Wildcats with 10:01 left in regulation.

Once into overtime, NNU controlled play, outshooting CWU 8-4, but it was quite literally a last-second shot from Farrand that decided the game in the Wildcats favor.

NNU keeper Daniele Ortiz made 15 saves in the heartbreaking setback for the Crusaders, who now hit the road to play at Montana State Billings on Thursday before making a quick trip home to host Simon Fraser next Saturday.

"We've learned a lot this weekend and we're motivated going forward," Trigg said.