NAMPA, Idaho - The Northwest Nazarene men's soccer team defeated the No. 10 ranked Seattle Pacific Falcons with a 3-2 decision in comeback fashion.
NNU and SPU went back and forth for the first half. Youseff El Madkouri fired the first shot of the half for the Nighthawks in the 32nd minute but missed wide.
The Falcons broke through in the 43rd minute with a cross from just outside the 18-yard box that found Sebastian Rangel's head to take a 1-0 lead into the half.
Northwest Nazarene found themselves in a big hole as SPU netted their second goal on the game in the 50th minute from Judah Straight.
Down 2-0, NNU needed to find a spark and found one when a foul just outside the box gave the Nighthawks a free kick in a dangerous area.
Caleb Putney stepped up and hit a in-swinging free kick that bounced just in front of the 6-yard box and into the the side net to bring the hosts within one.
With work to do, the Nighthawks pushed numbers forward and seemed to find a crack in the SPU defense. A shot from
Kwame Kwakye was blocked and a shot from
Abdullahi Sharif forced a save.
In the 67th minute,
Jim Wagenaar took a pass down the left sideline towards the goal line. Wagenaar found a wide open Putney who took a one-time shot off a side volley and scored his second goal of the game.
With a tie game and just over 20 minutes to play, the Falcons had a great opportunity off a pass that found Lucas Witthauer with a one-on-one with Elijah Brockl. A strong shot forced Brockl to make a save but the rebound found Cooper Schneider who took a one-time shot but another save from Elijah Brockl kept it tied at two.
Elijah Grimaldo took a shot a few minutes later but was off target and Caleb Putney took a shot that was sneaking under the crossbar before Willem Ficek punched it over.
The tie was finally broken in the 77th minute when Rylan McPherson dribbled through multiple SPU defenders and found upper corner to take the lead.
SPU fired off a couple shots late but were off target as NNU held on for the upset win.
Northwest Nazarene improves to 5-1-3 overall and 1-0 in GNAC play. They will stay at home to finish their nonconference slate against Jamestown on Saturday.
By the numbers:
- NNU took 10 shots, five on goal
- SPU took eight shots, five on goal
- Elijah Brockl secured two saves
- This is NNU's second win over a ranked team this season
- NNU def. No. 12 Fort Lewis, 1-0
- Caleb Putney scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season
- This is NNU's first win ove SPU since 2023
