Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — Heartbreaking doesn't even begin to describe it.

A debated foul in the goal box led to a game-deciding penalty kick that gave visiting Simon Fraser a 2-1 overtime win over the Crusaders in Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's soccer on Saturday afternoon at Finkbeiner Park.

"That's a game our girls absolutely deserve to win and it's a frustrating one," said Northwest Nazarene head women's soccer coach Mary Trigg. "PK calls aren't fun.

"I'm so proud, our girls earned a win today and they really played well."

But two penalty-kick calls proved to be the difference between the Crusaders deserving a win, and actually getting a W in the standings.

A hand-ball call in the goal box with just 5 minutes, 26 seconds gone in the game led to the Clan's first goal of the day, a penalty kick score by Katelyn Erhardsen.

Undaunted by their bad luck, the Crusaders (5-6-1 overall, 2-4-1 GNAC) came charging forward and evened the score when Nicole Nsa scored her team-leading sixth goal of the year.
 

Sarah Jenkins set up the play with a pass to the left sideline for Hannah Holm, who rushed up-field and found Nsa, who, from 10 yards out, beat Clan goalkeeper Priya Sandhu.

Sandhu did a fantastic job keeping Simon Fraser (6-2-2, 4-2-1) in the game, making five saves on the day, which included a pair of diving stops in the second half when NNU dominated.

"Our girls actually offensively looked the best we've looked in a long time," said Trigg, as NNU outshot the Clan 15-11 in the contest and 11-6 in the second half. "First time we've outshot a team, so we're going at them. The only difference is instead of scoring just one we could have made it three, four; we had some wide-open goals, so that's the thing we've got to work on."

Unable to put the win away in regulation, the contest came down to a foul in the goal box when Olivia Aguiar was tripped up attempting a shot with 2:33 gone in the extra session.

Aguiar took the ensuing penalty kick, booting in the game-winner, much to the frustrating of the Crusaders.

"Frustrating when we had the only earned goal of the game," said Trigg, whose team looks to bounce back next Saturday when NNU hosts Central Washington at 1 p.m. in the finale of a three-game home-stand.