Madison Montgomery
Wes Salonen
0
Weber State WEBERST (1-2-1)
1
Winner Northern Arizona NAU (2-1-0)
Weber State WEBERST
(1-2-1)
0
Final
1
Northern Arizona NAU
(2-1-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Weber State WEBERST 0 0 0
Northern Arizona NAU 0 1 1

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | Katie Rapp, NAU Athletic Communications

NAU Soccer Takes Down Big Sky Conference Foe WSU, 1-0

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 14, 2021) – In a chilly Sunday afternoon match against the Weber State Wildcats, Northern Arizona recorded its first home and conference win, 1-0, of the 2021 spring season. 

It has been over six years since the Lumberjacks have beat the Wildcats. The 'Jacks pulled a 2-1 overtime win at Lumberjack Stadium on Oct. 25, 2015. Since that date, WSU has tallied two wins, and the two Big Sky opponents have tied twice.

Today, the Lumberjacks improved their record to 2-1, while WSU fell to 1-2-1. With the victory, Northern Arizona also betters its all-time record against Weber to 8-15-5. 

"It feels great to get a win," said head coach Kylie Louw. "I think wins are going to be pretty hard to come by, especially because it's a short season and we're playing back to back. We battled some weather issues on Friday and had to cancel the game. It feels great to get a win and I think our players worked extremely hard to get that and I always appreciate that."

The goal came from junior defender, Madison Montgomery, in the opening two minutes of the second half. Montgomery pulled away from the Wildcats defense running swiftly past them. As the ball bounced off the right post and into the back of the net, Montgomery earned the early advantage in the second half for the Lumberjacks. 

"A little bit of it played out to our tactics," Louw said. "We changed some things before the game tactically and that's what allowed Monte to have that space. The team was all on board and it was really a team goal."

The 'Jacks kept their 1-0 lead over WSU for the remainder of the half. However, the Wildcats did force NAU goalkeeper, Taryn Benham, to make her one and only save of the match in the 62nd minute. 

For Benham, this is her second shutout of the 2021 year and 20th all-time. Benham is now just one shutout away from tying the top individual career record of 21, held by alumna Tori Rocke (2008-10).

Beyond the single goal by Montgomery, the Lumberjacks continuously applied pressure to WSU's keeper, Kaytlin Bradley. 

Kylie Kapustka, a senior forward from Colo., led NAU in shots. With three taken, the Lumberjack necessitated two saves for Bradley. Alongside Kapustka, two more 'Jacks – Maddie Shafer and Josie Novak – took a shot on-goal each to record a total of 5 shots on-goal for Northern Arizona.

Northern Arizona will look to keep the winning momentum up as they head into this weekend's matchup against Southern Utah. The Lumberjacks will head to Cedar City, Utah, for a two-game series against the Thunderbirds on March 19 and 21, with both matches kicking off at 12 p.m. MST.
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