ATHERTON, Calif. - A pair of second-half goals gave the Nighthawks a draw in a road contest against Menlo College this afternoon.
After a hard 1-0 loss against Dominican (Calif.) two days ago, NNU looked to rebound against a Menlo team that was opening their regular season and finished with three wins a year ago. Things quickly went wrong. Just five minutes into the contest, the Oaks took the lead off Leilani Phillips' foot.
Down early, the Nighthawks looked to respond as an Abby Blancett shot missed wide in the sixth minute and a
Sonja Daves shot missed wide in the 15th minute.
Attie Jo Westbrook gave the visitors a good look with a shot on goal that forced a save, but NNU still remained scoreless.
NNU controlled much of the first half after the opening goal, but Aubrey Dollins put the Oaks up by two in the 36th minute. With an even larger deficit to overcome, NNU had a great opportunity when a free kick from
Natalie Fish hit the crossbar, and a rebound shot from
Marlee Buffham was saved off the line to preserve the Menlo shutout as the Nighthawks entered the half down 2-0.
The second half would start with both teams trading shots, but nothing would come from them.
Elly Levi put a shot on frame, forcing a save from Menlo, and you could start to feel the momentum shift. NNU would finally break through in the 65th minute as
Mylee Carver Moulton scored her first goal of the season.
Still down 2-1, NNU kept fighting. Multiple saves from the Oaks held their lead until some pressure gave NNU the equalizer. In the 86th minute, a cross from
Keira Dwinell found
Lucy Bergford, who found the back net at the near post to tie it at two.
NNU improves to 0-1-1 overall as they scored their first two goals of the season. They will travel back to California to face CSU Dominguez Hills on Sept. 5th.
By the numbers:
