CHENEY, Wash. (October 3, 2021) - The Northern Arizona women's soccer team found the shutout 1-0 win today in their matchup against the Eastern Washington Eagles.
NAU headed into today's matchup with a team goal and exclamation of creating chances and converting on those chances and they did just that. Putting up 17 shots, 11 of which were on goal, brought the Lumberjacks to their first Big Sky victory of the season.
Fifth year senior and four year starter for the Eagles, goalkeeper Kelsee Winston did not make it easy for NAU. Winston came into the matchup with 21 career shutouts, a record for Eastern Washington, and leads the conference with 91 saves this season. Winston was able to stop all six of the Lumberjacks shots on goal in the first half, and had four stops in the second half before NAU's lone goal.
NAU was able to establish their pace earl on, six minutes into the match, Madison Montgomery received a long boot from Rylee Mitchell taking a shot that Eagles goalkeeper Winston made a diving save for, the ball bounced out of her hands and Montgomery took her second chance shot, when a Eagle defender came in for the team save just before the ball crossed the goal line.
Later in the first half, Mitchell saw her own chance coming up the left side, showcasing her footwork to control the ball and fight off EWU defenders, she took a shot just inside the goal box that was pushed back out by keeper Winston for her third save of the match.
Northern Arizona found their success while pushing the offensive action and holding EWU to zero shots in the first half, and only allowing four shots on goal in the second half, all of which were picked up by Lumberjack goalkeeper Natalie Manzo who recorded her second solo shutout of her career today. Alongside Manzo, the back line of defenders highlighted the match with their efforts in keeping the control of the ball and fighting off EWU's offense.
In the 82nd minute of the match Sam Larberg put up a shot for NAU, hitting the body of an Eastern Washington defender and deflecting to Mikhail Johnson who kicks the ball back out to Victoria Pucci for the lone goal of the match. Pucci's goal is
"It's who we are, I think there were a couple games that we lost our way but it's who we are, we are aggressive so this was just an exclamation of we're going to throw everything out of the way and just be who we are," Head coach Kylie Louw said. "They absolutely deserve the result, I'm really happy for them."
The Lumberjacks will be back home in Flagstaff this weekend for two matchups in Lumberjack stadium. NAU will host the Weber State Wildcats on Friday night at 7 p.m. MST, and the Idaho State Bengals on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+ and are free for the public to attend.
