Box Score

SEASIDE, Calif. – In the blink of an eye the day turned disappointing for the Crusaders.

After a strong season-opening effort led to a win Thursday, the Northwest Nazarene men's soccer team tried to make it two straight, but a 1 minute, 50 second lull to open the second half cost the Crusaders in a 2-0 nonconference loss at Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday.

"We came out sleeping to start the second and got sucker-punched," NNU head coach Coe Michaelson said.

Both teams fired three shots toward goal in the opening half, but the Crusaders seemed to control more of the action, and nearly took a one-goal lead in the 41^st minute when Jaime Verdin fired a blast off the post.

"At halftime we felt it was a matter of time," Michaelson said. "We had so much of the ball and were unlucky to hit the post."

Then, the Otters (1-1) struck in the blink of an eye as Max Madrigal booted in a ball after a scramble to the side of the NNU goal just 1:41 into the second half.

Less than 2 minutes later, Nick Stanley put NNU in a 2-0 hole the Crusaders couldn't dig out of.

"Credit to Monterey Bay for keeping us from scoring from there," Michaelson said. "We just couldn't solve it today."

Alfredo E. Ontiveros made one save in goal for the Crusaders (1-1), who were outshot 7-6 in the loss.

NNU now returns to Nampa, Idaho to make its home debut on Friday then it hosts Dominican (Calif.) at 5:30 p.m.