Lumberjacks Head Back to Flagstaff after Hard Fought 4-2 Loss to Oregon

Eugene, Oreg. (August 29, 2021) - Northern Arizona soccer fell 4-2 to Oregon on Sunday afternoon. Rylee Mitchell and Kylie Kapustka each put up a goal in the first half for NAU, but the Lumberjacks couldn't find the back of the net in the second half of the match. 

The Ducks came out with an early goal, scoring in the first minute of the game. Oregon forward, Eden Hardy, was able to sneak past NAU's defenders with the quick goal off of the goal kick from keeper Maddy Goldberg. 

It didn't take long for NAU to respond to the early goal. In the 11th minute, Mitchell took the pass from Sam Larberg for the quick right foot kick, getting the Lumberjacks on the board. 

Kapustka found her chance in the 28th minute of the match, moving past defenders, the Lumberjack forward scored the go-ahead goal. 

Oregon tied the game just ahead of halftime, as Kaitlyn Paculba maneuvered through two NAU defenders and took the pass from Lexi Romero all the way for the equalizer.

The Ducks came out in the second half with more ball control than seen from the team in the first half and scored their third goal in the 57th minute of the match. Ally Cook got the goal off of a header as Hardy sent the far kick from the right side of the field into the goal box.

Hardy, as the Ducks offensive leader of the game, found the back of the net for the second time in the game in the 83rd minute after beating out two NAU defenders, pushing the ball to the back of the goal, giving the Ducks the two goal lead with seven minutes left.

NAU made strides with communicating, which led to its two first half goals and tough defense, however couldn't capitalize on its offensive chances in the second half and couldn't hold Oregon to their two goals from the first half. 

"You know, we scored five goals against a top 25 team, two Pac-12 teams, and a very good Utah State. The fact that we are getting these opportunities to score goals against these big time teams is huge. I would say that's where the growth of our team is coming in, we're scoring goals and we're playing with some confidence. Obviously we need to clean some things up defensively as a whole team, not just the back line, and once we start putting those things together we will get even more confident," head coach Kylie Louw said. 

The Lumberjacks will hit the reset button and return to Flagstaff for their first home game of the season on Friday night at the Lumberjack Stadium. The match against GCU is set to start at 7 p.m. MST.