NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene women's soccer gave it all they had for 90 minutes on Saturday, but the Nighthawks fell to Western Washington 1-0 in the GNAC Championships final.
The Nighthawks move to 12-4-4 overall along with their 9-2-3 mark in conference action this season.
NNU will hope that their year is not quite done yet, however, as they have a chance to be selected for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament based on their impressive season resumé. The NCAA will air the Division II Women's Soccer Selection Show live at NCAA.com on Monday, Nov. 7 at 5:00 p.m. MT.
How It Happened
NNU and WWU engaged in another classic defensive battle, just like the first two times this year that the Nighthawks and Vikings faced off, with 163 of the 180 minutes of those previous games played with the score at 0-0.
Today was no different, as the match remained scoreless all the way into the 78
th minute before one side was able to capitalize on an opportunity. Western Washington's Tera Ziemer found Morgan Manalili with a bit of space near the top of the box, and Manalili was able to slot the ball just inside the near post for the go-ahead goal.
NNU would have a couple chances to equalize with a corner and two shot attempts from
Savanna Herz and
Makayla Roggow in the final 10 minutes, but the Nighthawks were unable to find the back of the net as the Vikings claimed the conference title.
Nighthawks Notes
- With their first appearance, NNU was the first active GNAC program not from WWU or Seattle Pacific to appear in the GNAC Final since 2012
- With their semifinal victory over SPU on Thursday, the Nighthawks earned their first-ever GNAC Championships win in their third appearance in the conference tournament
- NNU's 12 victories this season are second-most in program history, trailing the 13 victories in 2001
- In today's match, the Nighthawks had seven total shots and put three on frame while allowing nine shots and four on target from the Vikings
- Alexis Montoya had three saves in all 90 minutes on goal for NNU
- Roggow, Matisyn Ohlson, and Alejandra Jaramillo had the three shots on target for the Nighthawks
Next Up
As mentioned, NNU will await the NCAA Selection Show on Monday to see if their season will continue in the NCAA Tournament starting next weekend.
