Box Score

OAKLAND, Calif. — Chance after chance just missed the mark, and in the end it proved costly to the Crusaders on Thursday in California.

Nicole Nsa scored a pair of goals, but other missed opportunities to finish led to a 3-2 setback for the Northwest Nazarene women's soccer team, which opened a four-game road trip against host Holy Names.

"We dug ourselves a hole by not finishing all our one-v-one breakaways," said NNU head women's soccer coach Mary Trigg. "We learned a tough lesson today.

"I'm glad our girls fought back and battled, but that was a game we needed to win," NNU's coach added.

Nsa spotted NNU (1-2-0) with an early edge, heading home a pass from teammate Ashley Cook-Cox just 16 minutes, 15 seconds into the game.

But the Hawks (2-0) rallied as Allie Sementello scored in the 24^th minute and Keara Ortega put the Crusaders in a 2-1 hole with 13:20 until halftime.

And right out of the break, Holy Names stretched the lead to 3-1 as Courtney Okazaki scored on a penalty kick with 1:48 gone off the second-half clock.

NNU battled back as Nsa headed home her second goal of the game — and season — off a Lexi Fesenbek corner kick, cutting the margin to a single goal with 15 minutes exactly left to play.

But try as they might, the Crusaders couldn't net the equalizer.

Daniele Ortiz made five saves in goal for NNU, which was outshot 17-12 in the loss.

The Crusaders look to bounce back on Saturday when they play at Dominican at 2 p.m. (Mountain Time).