Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — Talk about dramatic!

The Crusaders put on quite a show for their fans at Finkbeiner Park on the Northwest Nazarene campus Thursday night, rallying in the final 3 minutes to secure a 2-2 tie in the season opener, which also was the coaching debut of first-year NNU head man Joel DeLass.

"Down a goal with less than 5 minutes to go, it showed a lot of heart from the guys," DeLass said of the comeback draw. "It was awesome."

Knotting the score wasn't the only drama, though, nor playing the first official game of DeLass' head coaching career.

After tying it, the Crusaders (0-0-1 overall) had to play the final 2 minutes of regulation and the full 20 minutes of overtime down a man, yet preserved the positive opening-day result.

"We had chances to probably win it early and they had some chances, as well," DeLass said, "but down a man for 20 minutes in extra time — just talk about a lot of heart from our guys and finding a way to get a result is always good, especially against a really good team."
 

The Crusaders came out on fire as Steven Garcia blasted home a shot from 25 yards out, banging home the first goal of the season for NNU off the left post with just 7 minutes, 14 seconds gone in the contest.
Keon Jones and Rene Duevel assisted for NNU.

But the Sharks (0-0-1) answered quickly as Javier Risco Garcia got to a loose ball in the NNU box and booted it home in the midst of a scrum in front, tying the game 1-1 in the 11^th minute.

Both teams continued to fire away as NNU racked up 23 shots and forced Hawaii Pacific goalkeeper Chandler Schur to make eight saves.

The Sharks peppered Crusader keeper Ryan Foo, as well, mustering 18 shots as NNU's goalie also posted eight saves.

HPU broke through with 19:46 remaining in regulation, though, when Sven Koening took a long pass forward from Erik Kemsies and beat Foo, 1-on-1.

It looked like that might be the game-winner until a great header from Logan Wood knotted it in the fleeting moments of regulation.

Alex Mitrovic set up the play, sending a pass out to Michael Mollay on the left side. Mollay sent a perfect cross into the box where the hard-charging Wood lunged and headed home the ball with 2:41 left in the second half.

From there, both teams just hung on to earn the draw, with NNU doing so in dramatic fashion after a late shoving match on the field led to an injection and left the Crusaders playing one man down for both overtime halves.

The Crusaders now look to build on their positive result when they host Dominican on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Concordia 1, Dominican 0
In Thursday's other contest at Finkbeiner Park, a goal just 2:33 into the action by Concordia's Kieran McMinn held up, for the Cavaliers (1-0-0), who scored a 1-0 win, despite constant pressure in the final 45 minutes by Dominican.

The Penguins (0-0-1) outshot Concordia 14-2 in the second half, but couldn't beat Cavalier goalkeeper Grant Alcorn, who had five saves in the shutout win.

Concordia next plays Hawaii Pacific at noon on Saturday at Finkbeiner Park, while Dominican takes on host NNU at 3 p.m.