PORTLAND, Ore. (October 24, 2021) - The Lumberjacks continued their momentum Sunday, finishing the regular season with a 2-1 win against the Portland State Vikings.
The 'Jacks didn't wait long to open the scoring, with their first goal of the match coming just in the 13th minute of play. Rylie Curran sent a long pass to clear the side, finding Maddie Shafer right outside of the box. Shafer found Josie Novak to her right, and Novak quickly found the back of the net. Today's goal for Novak was her first career goal as a Lumberjack.
"She came out today and told me she was gonna score and that's exactly what she did, she has the confidence to do it, it was just a matter of when is that gonna happen. She had a great game and I'm really looking forward to Josie's future with us," Head Coach Kylie Louw said.
Twenty minutes later, the Vikings tied the match up on a goal by freshman Parker Reichner. Sophomore Ani Jensen picked the ball up off an NAU defender, and drove it all the way to midfield, where she sent her pass to forward Chloe Huling. Huling sent a pass inside the box looking for the cross, and found it when Reichner made contact, scoring in the bottom right of the net.
In the 62nd minute of the match, a penalty kick was awarded to the Lumberjacks. Mikhail Johnson stepped up in the center of the box, giving Portland's goalkeeper no chance as she sent her shot straight into the top left of the net, putting NAU on top.
The Lumberjack defense was called upon many times in today's match, with the Vikings putting up eleven shots, six on goal. Natalie Manzo was in goal for NAU, making five saves in total. Manzo saw her best save of the match with just ten minutes left, as Sofi Papastamos put up a fast shot from the right side, Manzo made the diving save.
After Friday's match at Sacramento State, the Lumberjacks clinched their spot in the Big Sky Tournament. After a Weber State loss today, and an NAU win, the Lumberjacks move into the third seed in the tournament as NAU holds the head to head over Weber.
"Sometimes when you go 0-3 to start the conference, it can go one of two ways and we chose the path we wanted to take. I told them we were going to get max points from six games and they basically said we got your back coach and that's what we did, that's what they fought for, I couldn't be more proud of this group," Louw said.
The Big Sky Championships will be held in Greeley, Colorado. The tournament is set to take place from Nov. 3-7.
