NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's soccer kicked off GNAC play in thrilling fashion on Thursday, coming from behind twice to knock off reigning conference champion Western Washington 3-2.
 
How It Happened

• Western Washington got on the board first, as Drew Farnsworth cleaned up a deflection off NNU keeper Sawyer Price to put the Vikings up 1-0 in the 21^st minute.
• NNU evened things up just before halftime, with Brandon Parsio sending a beautiful ball into the box from 30 yards out to find Lukas Juodkunaitis at the far post, who sent it into the upper left corner of the net before the pass hit the turf.
• WWU would grab the lead back, however, scoring in the 52^nd minute on a corner. The ball was sent to the near post, headed back to the center, and then knocked in with a header from Lucas Hakamada.
• It would only take NNU 18 seconds of game time to respond though, as the Nighthawks earned a free kick near their bench from 35 yards out. Juodkunaitis sent a great ball to the scrum in the middle of the box and it was redirected up over the Viking keeper and into the net off the head of Aidan McGinty.
• The Nighthawks finally took their first lead of the game with 18 minutes to play, as Juodkunaitis figured into the scoring yet again with a beautiful goal off a feed from Jimmy Koufidakis.

Quotable 

"I thought the boys were fantastic tonight," said head coach John Powell. "It's always great to start conference play off with three points but the way in which they did it was special. To come from behind twice, and eventually get the win, shows the mentality and grit within the side. I'm extremely proud of the team and now we look forward to hosting another top GNAC team in Simon Fraser on Saturday."

Nighthawks Notes

• Juodkunaitis had a hand in all three of NNU's goals, notching five points in the game with two goals and an assist, his second and third tallies of the year and first assist of the season.
• McGinty scored for the first time of the 2021 campaign, notching his third career goal.
• Parsio brought his career assist total to eight, sending him into a tie for 10^th in NNU's DII history.
• Koufidakis notched his third assist of the season and Leon Niessen also recorded his first of the year, coming on a double assist on NNU's first goal.
• Price had two saves in goal, bringing his season total to 27 along with his fourth winning decision of the year.
• The Nighthawks had a narrow advantage in possession over the 90 minutes, holding the ball for 53% of the match.
• NNU improves to 1-0 in GNAC play at 4-3 overall. The Nighthawks have not won or lost two games in a row this season, winning all of their Thursday games but dropping the Saturday contests.

Up Next
 
The Nighthawks continue GNAC action with another home contest this Saturday, facing the always-strong Simon Fraser at 11:00 a.m.
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