FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 29, 2024) – NAU Soccer welcomed 1,073 fans in its home opener on Thursday night, finding a 1-1 draw in the first ever matchup with the University of Pennsylvania.
"It's a tough one, I think we did enough to win the game, but I thought our time management at the end wasn't good enough, head coach
Alan Berrios said. "We had some poor clearances in our defensive third, there's no reason to be in that situation to begin with, and I will say that we knew that game was going to be a fight, they are very gritty, and they work hard so I'm not surprised in what we saw."
Statistically, the Lumberjacks led the way through the first frame, putting up eight shots and holding the Quakers to five. Both keepers picked up two saves to keep things scoreless at the break as
Trinity Corcoran would go on to play a full 90 minutes, as would Pennsylvania's Annabel Austen.
Coming out of halftime, the Jacks capitalized on their offensive momentum with a go-ahead goal from
McKenzie Coleman, finding her first-career goal with NAU, off a pass up midfield from
Joey Lujan, sneaking past Austen in the 78
th minute.
The Quakers would collect the equalizer off a penalty kick in the final second of the game as a foul was called on NAU inside the box. Leah Finkelman took the kick for UPenn. The Quakers took a 7-5 advantage over the Jacks on corner kicks. Corcoran tabbed six saves in the draw, while on the offensive side of the ball,
Avery Ott put up three shots. Mia Fuss took a game-high 6 shots with 2 on goal for Pennsylvania.
Deniah Wells,
Carlie Diaz, and
Kaitlin Surber all recorded their first career starts in NAU blue and gold in tonight's match. In addition to Corcoran, Hunter, Lujan, and Diaz also tabbed 90 minutes of play.
"The future is bright, we have a lot of freshmen and that's great experience for them to be in a fight the way they were and to come up big, I am proud of them, and I am proud of the team for earning the draw," Berrios said. "Now we just fix things and move forward."
NAU will be back in action next Thursday in Lumberjack Stadium to take on the Utah Tech Trailblazers at 7 p.m. MST. To stay up to date with NAU Soccer, follow the Jacks on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
