NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's soccer sent off their seniors in a perfect way on Saturday, taking down No. 14 Western Oregon 4-2 in the final game of the regular season.
The Nighthawks finish the 2024 campaign 6-8-4 overall and 5-4-3 in GNAC play for 18 points, and will either finish third or fourth in the conference pending the final match later tonight in Seattle.
Unfortunately, with the GNAC not having a conference tournament, the game concludes the year for NNU. Western Oregon won the conference and will receive the GNAC's automatic bid to NCAA Regionals that starts next week.
The Nighthawks came out very strong, scoring the opening goal in just the third minute.
Jim Wagenaar picked off a Wolves' pass deep in their defensive third and slotted a good ball to a wide-open
Abdullahi Sharif for the finish. The goal was the first of Sharif's NNU career.
NNU doubled their lead in the 28
th minute, with
Johnny Ramirez finding
Jonathan Cardona with a cross and Cardona juking a defender before rifling a shot inside the far post. The Nighthawks' third tally came in the 40
th minute, as WOU was called for a hand ball in the box and
Sullivan Smith stuck the penalty kick in the back of the net.
The Wolves then earned and converted a PK of their own just a minute later, making it 3-1 Nighthawks at the break.
NNU got that goal back just six minutes into the second half, though, as Cardona took a corner and found Smith rising above the defense for a header into the low right corner.
WOU managed to cut the deficit back to two with a goal in the 81
st, but it was far too little, too late as the Nighthawks took the upset victory.
The seven seniors shone for NNU, with Smith tallying two goals, Cardona a goal and an assist,
Johnny Ramirez an assist, and
Cruz Ramirez earning the victory in goal with 10 saves.
Raoul Barragan,
Pablo Gonzalez, and
Kobe Avila also each played all 90 minutes to help the Nighthawks to the win.
