Saturday, November 12, 2022

LOS ANGELES -- Northwest Nazarene punched its ticket to the third round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championships by defeating defending national champion Cal State LA 2-1.

The Nighthawks played another first half where the defense took the lead with both teams unable to find the back of the net. The NNU back line was held steady by defenders Braeden Anderson and Lorenzo Valentini who played all 90 minutes. Along with the two defenders, midfielders Nestor Serrano and Ethan Atterberry also played the full match for the Nighthawks. Heading into the half, Cal State LA held the advantage in shots 9-5. Three of Northwest Nazarene’s shots were taken by sophomore midfielder Lukas Juodkunaitis.

After a first half where the Golden Eagles took some of the more dangerous looks in the frame, the Nighthawks came out of halftime and began creating opportunities early. Northwest Nazarene Juodkunaitis continued to mount pressure in the second half and finally broke through in the 54th minute off a corner kick from Jonathan Cardona.

Cal State LA pushed back, making several good looks and firing more shots toward NNU goalkeeper Sawyer Price and forced a tie in the 75th minute. The Nighthawks didn’t have to wait long to reclaim the lead, however, when Juodkunaitis netted his second goal of the match to stun the host Golden Falcons under a minute later.

Despite Cal State LA pushing back in the waning minutes of the match, the Northwest Nazarene defense held strong to complete the upset over the No. 1 seed in Super Region 4 and advance to the third round of the tournament for the first time in program history.

The Nighthawks will face another CCAA team in Cal State Dominguez Hills in the third round.