Women's Soccer | 10/27/2012 4:32:00 PM

Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon women's soccer team could not hold on to an early lead as Northwest Nazarene rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Wolves in the regular season finale on Saturday. With the loss, WOU falls to 8-9-1 overall, 6-7-1 in conference play as NNU improved to 8-9-1, 5-8-1 in league play.

In a driving rainstorm, Kymberly Witmer put the Wolves on the board early as her glancing header off a corner kick from Taylor Thompson found the back of the net in the 13th minute to give WOU a 1-0 lead. The goal was the 10th of her career for the senior as Thompson recorded her first assist of the season.

The Crusaders would find the equalizer; however, in the 26th minute as Sarah Staropoli blasted a shot from 25 yards out into the top left-hand corner of the net to tie the score.

With the score knotted at 1-1 heading into the second half, NNU would grab a two-goal advantage with goals in the 78th and 79th minute. First, it was Julianne Steele who found the bottom left-hand corner of the net as Celina Mortensen extended the lead to 3-1 with her header just 109 seconds later. Strarpoli was credited with assists on the play as she finished the contest with four points.

Makana Pundyke would bring the Wolves to within one in the 82nd-minute with a header; however, the Wolves would be unable to find the equalizer as NNU went on to sweep the season series from the Wolves.

Hillary Lutz and Kelsey Lindsey each recorded two saves for WOU in the loss while Tanya Zickefoose stopped two shots in goal for the Crusaders to record the win.

WOU held a 14-12 advantage in shots and a 5-3 edge in corner kicks as Marina Austin and Witmer recorded three shots each to lead the Wolves attack.

With WOU already earning a spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship, the Wolves played 21 players in the match as the contest marked the final home game for seven Western Oregon seniors.

Despite the loss, WOU advances to the GNAC Women's Soccer Championship as the fourth-seed and will face top-seeded Western Washington at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.