NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's soccer had the lead at halftime, but couldn't hang on through a shorthanded second half as Western Washington came away with a 3-2 victory.
The Nighthawks fall to 4-7-3 overall and 3-3-2 in GNAC play.
Western Washington got on the board early, taking advantage of one of their first opportunities with a goal in the 7
th minute.
It didn't take long for NNU to equalize, however. After a Nighthawks corner was cleared back to midfield,
Raoul Barragan sent a perfect ball back into the box to
Caleb Putney, who turned and fired it into the net to make it 1-1 in the 16
th minute.
With three minutes before halftime, NNU took the lead when
Pablo Gonzalez's cross into the box was mishit by a Viking defender and trickled past the keeper's diving arm for an own goal.
The Nighthawks took the 2-1 advantage into the break, but NNU had to start the second period with 10 men after
Sullivan Smith was given a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity with 12 seconds left.
Despite being shorthanded, NNU was able to hold WWU off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes of the second period. The Vikings finally broke through in the 76
th minute, however, and would add another with less than three minutes to play to steal the win.
Gerardo Fonte finished with eight saves in goal for NNU.
The Nighthawks head back out on the road this Saturday, traveling to Billings to take on MSUB at 2:00 p.m.
