MONMOUTH, Oregon --- The Western Oregon men's soccer team took an early lead, but ultimately fell to Northwest Nazarene 2-1 Thursday at WOU Soccer Field.

The Wolves (1-6-1 overall, 0-3 GNAC) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute when on transition Dauda Woodruff broke free and, on a nice solo effort, found the back of the net to make it 1-0 for his first goal of the season and WOU's first goal in GNAC action in program history.

The score remained that way until the 40th minute when NNU (6-1-1, 2-0) went on the attack and Jonathan Cardona crossed it to Lukas Juodkunaitis who punched it in from just inside the penalty area to make it 1-1.

The Wolves eventually went a man down after receiving a red card in the 55th minute, but played tough and held off the Nighthawks until the 80th minute when Sullivan Smith scored his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Brandon Parsio to make it 2-1 NNU.

WOU couldn't find the equalizer over the final 10 minutes and dropped the contest. NNU outshot WOU 19-7, including 10-5 on shots on goal.

The Wolves' Juan Suarez was strong at keeper, picking up eight saves in the contest. Abraham Villalobos led WOU in shots with four - including three on goal.

The Wolves return to action Saturday at Saint Martin's.