FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 22, 2021) – Coming off of two wins and eight total goals scored last weekend, NAU soccer gears up to host the first weekend of Big Sky Conference play.
The Lumberjacks will host Montana on Friday night, with a start time of 7:00 p.m. MST, you can watch the match here. Sunday, the Lumberjacks take on Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. MST, you can watch the game here. Both of the matches will be held in Lumberjack Stadium, and are free to the public.
NAU is coming off of a dominant two game win streak against Arizona Christian and Dixie State. After finding a rhythm early on in Friday's match against ACU, the Lumberjacks kept it rolling throughout the weekend, finding six goals on Friday and adding two more on Sunday.
Sophomore Maddie Shafer and senior Madison Montgomery lead the team with three goals a piece. Shafer found her first career goal on Friday night, while adding her second in the same match and her third on Sunday. Natalie Manzo recorded her first shutout victory on Friday, and combined for a second shutout on Sunday with Trinity Corcoran. Manzo has 46 saves and a save percentage of 0.730 on the season.
NAU goes into Big Sky play with a 2-7 overall record, a .544 shot on goal percentage, and seventeen combined goals.
Friday's match against Montana will be the first time the teams meet since 2019. NAU was set to compete against Montana for the conference championship in April, before the match was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Lumberjack program. Montana advanced to the NCAA tournament, where they faced South Carolina and suffered a 1-0 loss in the first round.
Montana heads into Friday's matchup with a 4-4 record, all four wins coming from home matches for the Griz. Junior Sydney Haustein leads the team in goals, with four and a SOG% of .800. Haustein found her first career goal for Montana against Cal Poly earlier in the season. Not slowing down since, she added two goals in the team's win versus Texas Southern and one more last week at Long Beach. In goal for the Griz is Camellia Xu who ha started in seven of the team's eight matches, recording four shutout wins.
NAU and Montana's lengthy history holds a record of 6-16-5, with five of the six Lumberjack wins being at home. The 'Jacks recorded their last win against Montana in 2013 in Missoula.
Sunday, the Lumberjacks will host Northern Colorado for the teams first meeting of the season. Northern Colorado and NAU competed against one another twice in the Spring, resulting in a 2-2 tie, and a 1-3 loss for NAU. The Bears and the Lumberjacks series history stands at 10-9-1, with the 'Jacks last win recorded in the 2019 season. Previous to the Spring season, NAU held up a four game winning streak to UNC.
Northern Colorado heads into the weekend with a 2-6-2 record. Starting in seven of the ten matches is goalkeeper Morgan Bury. Bury has 37 overall saves, allowing ten goals, and a save percentage of 0.787, adding one shutout in the team's two wins. Senior Lexi Pulley has recorded 50% of the team's goals, with four and leads the team with 15 shots on goal.
This weekends matches are the first of nine regular season conference games on schedule for the Lumberjacks.
