• FINAL STATS   |   • VIDEO: Claire  Neder
• PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Claire Neder scored in the first half Saturday and sophomore classmate Sophia Chilczuk netted the game-winning goal in the second, leading the Seattle Pacific women to a 2-1 home victory over Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference soccer game at Interbay Stadium.
 
The Falcons (7-2-1) improved their league ledger to 3-1-0. They avoided a repeat of Thursday's game when they were up a goal on Simon Fraser before allowing a late equalizer in an eventual 2-1 overtime setback.
 
"It did play itself out a little similar in terms of us having a handle on the game with a 1-0 lead and then kind of let them come back into the game again," SPU coach Arby Busey described. "But for some reason I had a good, positive feeling and thought we were going to get one today.
 
"We didn't create a ton of opportunities late in the game on Thursday, but in this game we were still creating opportunities and I thought we were going to capitalize on one of those."
 
SPU responded 10 minutes after Saturday's tying goal with a game-winner by Chilczuk in the 79th minute.
 
Northwest Nazarene (5-4-1) dropped to 1-4-0 in GNAC play with its fourth consecutive loss.
 


Early shots were not frequent, but they were accurate for the Falcons. They put two of their first three attempts on frame, forcing saves from NNU goalkeeper Chloe Sholtz.
 
SPU's fourth try found the target. Megan Moore sent a low pass into the box that was deflected by the goalkeeper and the ball dribbled out to the top of the 6-yard box. Claire Neder sprinted to punch it in at 24:48 for her second goal of the season.
 
That 1-0 score line held into halftime as the hosts compiled a 6-1 shot advantage, including a 29th-minute try by Julia DeVere that banged off the crossbar. The lone NNU first-half shot, a sliding attempt by Maddy Parton from the center of the box, was blocked and traveled wide of the SPU goal in the 23rd minute.
 
The Falcons increased the offensive pressure, tripling their total with 12 second-half shots. Several attempts came close, including a dangerous 63rd-minute boot by Brooke Lancaster that was blocked by a defender and trickled wide of the left post.
 
A corner kick set up the Nighthawks equalizer, at 68:24. Magda Wronski served the ball in from the left corner and it was not completely cleared. After pin-balling in traffic, the ball caromed out to Rikki Myers, who delivered a first-time blast into the upper right corner from the edge of the 18-yard box. That was the fourth goal of the season for the NNU sophomore.
 
Freshman Makena Rietz initiated the Falcons decisive goal with a long dribbling run that preceded her through ball into the left side of the box. Chilczuk raced to the ball and dribbled around a defender before placing a 10-yard shot into the top right of the NNU goal at 78:21.
 
An injury limited Chilczuk to just 20 minutes in the last game. She saw 41 minutes of action Saturday off the bench.
 
That was long enough for Chilczuk to tally a team-leading seventh goal of the season and her fourth game-winning score. Six of her 11 career goals were game-winning strikes.
 
"Sophia's been clutch for us," said Busey. "She took a little bit of a knock on Thursday and it was good to have her back out on the field because she complements the rest of the team extremely well.
 
"We had a few players step up in her absence. Claire was really good on Thursday and good again today, helping us in terms of coming back and winning balls for us."
 
DeVere denied the Nighthawks' last hope, heading away a hard, 17-yard shot by Tennyson Young with 17 seconds remaining.
 
Sholtz made three saves for NNU, which was on the short end of an 18-6 shot count. Freshman goalkeeper Riley Travis was not called upon to stop a shot for the Falcons, who allowed only one attempt directly on goal.
 
"It's good to get momentum as much as it's good to close the door on a loss and show resilience in terms of bouncing back from a tough result on Thursday," Busey remarked about the importance of Saturday's win. "It shows a lot of character in this group.
 
"Every weekend is big in this conference and we've got some tough ones coming up this next weekend where we head back out on the road and face some difficult opponents."
 
The SPU women travel next week for a pair of GNAC contests. They visit Bellingham for a clash with 17th-ranked Western Washington on Thursday at 7 p.m. Next Saturday they play at Montana State Billings.
 
The Falcons' next Interbay Stadium home game is Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. versus Concordia (Ore.).
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 2, Northwest Nazarene 1
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Claire Neder (unassisted), 24:48; 2, NNU, Rikki Myers (unassisted), 68:24; 3, SPU, Sophia Chilczuk (Makena Rietz), 78:21.
 
                       1   2  -- Total
Northwest Nazarene     0   1  --   1
Seattle Pacific        1   1  --   2
 
Shots – NNU 6, SPU 18.
Shots on goal – NNU 1, SPU 5.
Saves – NNU 3 (Chloe Sholtz), SPU 0 (Riley Travis).
Corner kicks – NNU 5, SPU 4.
Fouls – NNU 7, SPU 9.
Offsides – NNU 1, SPU 2.
 
Records
Northwest Nazarene 5-4-1,  1-4-0 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 7-2-1,  3-1-0 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Seattle Pacific at (#17) Western Washington
Thursday, Oct. 4, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Harrington Field / Bellingham, Wash.