Box Score

BISMARCK, N.D. — The Crusader offense came back to life and led Northwest Nazarene back to its winning ways.

Erik Anderson scored twice and Fernando Alvarez provided an important insurance goal for the Crusaders who held on to beat host University of Mary, 3-2, Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer.

"I'm just so proud of the guys tonight. As pretty as we usually play, tonight, and missing so many high level players, the 16 guys who were here had to show character and grit. This is never an easy place to get a result and I challenged them tonight that the way you change a bad run of form is with hard work, and they responded," said NNU head men's soccer coach Coe Michaelson, whose team snapped a three-game skid with the win.

Having scored just twice in those last three games, things didn't start much better in North Dakota for the Crusaders (9-4-1 overall, 5-3-1 GNAC) as the Marauders netted the first goal of the day just 23 seconds into the game.

But Anderson changed the games momentum, heading home a rebound of an Alex Mitrovic shot with 25:01 gone, tying the game and igniting the NNU attack.

Just 5:34 later, Anderson netted his second of the game off assists from Julio Castillo and Michael Mollay to put the Crusaders up, 2-1.

Looking for more, NNU got another in the 63^rd minute when Castillo set up Alvarez, who chipped a shot over Mary's goalkeeper from 18 yards out, pushing the lead to 3-1.

"I'm so happy for Erik and Fernando," Michaelson said. "As a striker, when you struggle to score it's easy to lose your confidence. But they have had so many good performances regardless of goals scored that it was great to see them get rewarded tonight."

Alvarez's insurance goal proved vital as the Marauders (3-9-1, 2-7-0) closed within one with 15:57 left to play, but NNU held on for the victory.

Ryan Foo finished with five saves in the win for the Crusaders, who wrapped up a four-game road trip and now head home to host four straight, starting with St. Martin's on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Finkbeiner Park on the NNU campus.

"We are excited to get home now," NNU's coach said. "It's been a lot of time on the road to this point and we have it all to play for heading home for four matches."