Lumberjacks Find Momentum in 4-1 Win to Weber State

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 8, 2021) - NAU Soccer gets their second consecutive Big Sky win Friday night, shutting down Weber State 4-1.

The Lumberjacks continued their dominant performance from Sunday's win into tonight's with impressive ball control and offensive chemistry bringing the team to 2-3 in Big Sky Conference play.

NAU started off strong with their first goal coming in the seventh minute of the match as Madison Montgomery challenged the Wildcat's goalkeeper, and scored on the first shot on goal of the night. Montgomery caught a long boot from Kylie Kapustka right inside the goal box and didn't hesitate to send it to the back of the net. Montgomery now has five goals on the season.

Mikhail Johnson recorded her first career goal as a Lumberjack in the 43rd minute of the match. Montgomery took the corner kick on the right side as Johnson stepped up through four Weber State defenders and scored the Lumberjacks second goal off of a header.

Coming out of halftime, the Lumberjacks were clearly not looking for any slow down. NAU sent the ball inside the box while Grace Quinn took a shot that was blocked, Sam Larberg was able to get the second chance and scored her first goal of the night, third of the season. A minute and a half later, Larberg created her second chance getting to the ball quickly and pushing past WSU's goalkeeper for her second of the night. Larberg now has four goals on the season.

"We've been building the whole season and I really think it's starting to pay off, we can see that believing in each other and fighting to the end is what's working for us and that's what's winning us games. It won us a game last weekend and now again today and I think that we just keep building on that, and we do it together and we're going to go pretty far this season," Larberg said

In the 88th minute of the match, Morgan Furmaniak received a penalty kick just left inside the box, and scored the Wildcats only goal of the night in the bottom left of the net.

In goal for the Lumberjacks was Natalie Manzo who made an impressive five saves for NAU, bringing her save total to 72. Manzo now holds a save percentage of .750 along with 1,091 minutes on the season.

"If you watch our team play, you see how we fight and grind. Midseason we lost our way, and this is just pure comeback from our team. Everybody gave their best and that's what we ask for. We ask them to compete and give effort and that's exactly what they did. I really couldn't be happier, we scored goals from pure commitment to winning this game," Head Coach Kylie Louw said.

The Lumberjacks will return to Lumberjack Stadium on Sunday for their match against the Idaho State Bengals, the match will kick off at 1 p.m. MST.