NAMPA, Idaho – The Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team played Northwest Nazarene in an early-season conference match on Saturday. Lauren Forster scored early in the first half, but it wasn't enough as the Nighthawks downed their visitors 3-1.

The Falcons were trailing 1-0 when Forster scored in the 19th minute. Jacqueline Blakeley earned the assist on the goal. 

NNU's Madison Grande entered the match as one of the best goal scorers in the GNAC. She lived up to that billing, netting a goal in the 15th minute to put the team up 1-0. She'd add insurance for her team with a goal in the 66th minute. Grande scored two of her team's three goals on the day. 

"Credit to NNU, they were very good and caused us problems," head coach Arby Busey said. "I liked our response to their first goal, but we couldn't create the opportunities to get the goals we needed for a positive result today. We put a lot of pressure on them in the second half and had a ton of corner kicks, but we couldn't make ourselves goal-dangerous enough." 

The Falcons turned up the offensive intensity in the second half. They had a 9-5 advantage in shots during the final 45 minutes. SPU created eight corner-kick opportunities but couldn't get the goals they needed. 

"We'll get home and get back out on the field Monday looking to prepare for a couple more difficult games at home," Busey added. "We have a great group and I expect a good response to this one."

The Falcons return to Interbay Stadium on Thursday at 7 p.m. when they host Western Oregon.