Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — This was the perfect result, regardless how the Crusaders earned it.

The Northwest Nazarene men's soccer team overcame a slow start and a pair of one-goal deficits to top Western Washington, 4-2, at Finkbeiner Park on the NNU campus in a must-win Great Northwest Athletic Conference match-up Thursday afternoon.

The victory keeps the Crusaders (11-5-1 overall, 7-4-1 GNAC) moving forward as they hunt down a second straight NCAA National Tournament berth.

"It was a rough first half in terms of our standards and what we expect from ourselves; we haven't been that disorganized all year," said NNU head men's soccer coach Coe Michaelson.

Despite that fact, NNU went into the break tied, 2-2, with the Vikings.

And in the final 45 minutes, the Crusaders dominated play.

"I think the one good thing about that first half was the response of our attack, to immediately get back their goals and to keep our cool on the attack," NNU's coach added. "Then we got some things sorted at halftime, and our attack kept going."

Erik Anderson gave the NNU attack a boost, scoring a goal and adding two assists in the game, including the first goal of the day for the Crusaders to erase an early 1-0 advantage for the Vikings (5-8-3, 3-7-2).
 

Anderson took a pass forward from teammate Julio Castillo and beat WWU goalkeeper Tyler Visten with 19:51 left in the opening session.

The Vikings retook a one-goal lead on Adam Talley's second goal of the game in the 31^st minutes, but just 15 seconds later NNU evened the match once again.

Anderson set up the goal, crossing a pass into the box to teammate Michael Mollay who banged a shot off the goal-post. The rebound went right to Julio Castillo who fired it home, tying the game, 2-2.

"It's been nice to get a few goals these last couple games," said Anderson, who has five goals in NNU's last four contests. "I think having Fernando (Alvarez) back up top has really helped link the attack. That's key."

NNU's attack dominated in the second half as Mollay booted home the gave winner, kicking in a rebound after a Castillo shot, then Anderson and Jaime Verdin set up Dennis Vivar-Diaz for a goal with 14:49 left to play, a goal which iced the win.

A win that keeps NNU's drive toward the NCAA Tournament alive, as the Crusaders were eighth in this week's NCAA West Region poll. The top six teams in the poll at the end of the season on Nov. 8, earn NCAA Tournament berths.

Next up in the drive to the playoffs is the home finale for NNU, which hosts the GNAC's second-place team, Simon Fraser, on Saturday at 3 p.m.