MISSOULA, Mont. (September 29, 2024) – Northern Arizona Soccer (0-5-4) dropped its Big Sky Conference opener to the Montana Griz in a 2-0 final on Sunday afternoon.
The Griz opened scoring in the 13
th minute of the match as Maddie Ditta picked up a pass from Carly Whalen just outside NAU's box, scoring through traffic in front of
Trinity Corcoran's goal.
The Lumberjacks countered with some opportunities of their own, putting up three first-half shots before Montana took a 2-0 lead in the 32
nd minute quickly following a penalty kick for the Griz, as Jen Estes took advantage of NAU's defenders surrounding her before sending a pass up to Chloe Seelhoff who found the bottom corner.
Coming out of the break, the Lumberjacks started
Natalie Manzo in goal, recording her first minutes on the pitch since Aug. 22 against Arizona. Manzo went on to play a full 45-minute half, recording all three NAU saves on the day.
The first corner kick for either team came six minutes into the second half as the Griz found their chance before
Madisyn Marchesi was able to clear for NAU. In a second-straight Montana corner kick opportunity, freshman
Valerie Llamas cleared the box for the Lumberjacks, quickly finding
Valentina Navetta for a counter-opportunity with speed, sending up the first shot of the half as Montana's defense blocked it and cleared at midfield.
Katie Willoughby and
Micala Boex led the Lumberjacks with a shot on goal apiece, as the team finished with eight shots total, two on target in comparison to Montana's 20 shots, five on target.
Northern Arizona will play on the road once more this week in a Thursday night matchup at Northern Colorado for the Jacks lone match of the week as they will have an off weekend before hosting four consecutive home games in the month of October.
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