Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — This time, the Crusaders didn't wait until the final shot of the game.

Instead, it was the very first shot of the contest that proved to be the winner as the Northwest Nazarene men's soccer team snapped a string of six straight overtime games, scoring early and holding on to top visiting Concordia, 1-0, on Saturday in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at Finkbeiner Park on the NNU campus.

"After six straight overtime games it was a much needed victory in regulation," said NNU head coach Joel DeLass, whose team had won four of those OT contests, including their last three outings on the last shot of the game.

"We've still got to get a lot better at putting them away, we had a lot of opportunities today and we didn't put any in the back of the net, so it got a little interesting at the end."
 

NNU (8-3-3- overall, 5-1-2 GNAC) outshot the Cavaliers, 17-5, in the contest, but it turned out that first shot was the lone one to find the back of the net on the day.

Linus Mansson sent a corner kick from the right side of the field through the Concordia goal box to Christian Adamson on the left post.

The 6-foot-3 NNU defender, playing up expressively for the corner kick because of his height, was able to head home the ball for the game's lone goal with just 1 minute, 50 seconds gone in the action.

"I really felt like we came out really well," said DeLass. "We just didn't have the final product today."

But the strong start was enough as the Crusaders dominated play and goalkeeper Ryan Foo made three saves in goal for his fourth shutout of the season, which also was the fourth straight win for NNU and the seventh game in a row without a loss.

Now the Crusaders take their unbeaten streak on the road for crucial games at Western Washington on Thursday, then NNU heads to No. 4-ranked Simon Fraser for a potential GNAC Championship battle next Saturday.