Thursday, November 10, 2022

LOS ANGELES – Regulation couldn’t decide who would be allowed to continue their season. Overtime didn’t offer any answers either. Only penalty kicks finally rewarded Northwest Nazarene with an answer when Zakaria Daaou punched home his shot in the seventh round from the spot.

Not even a week removed from winning the first GNAC title in program history, the Nighthawks had to battle yet again to advance to the second round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championships. Northwest Nazarene entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed and faced off against No. 9 seed West Texas A&M. The two sides traded goals in the final 10 minutes of the match to complete 90 minutes tied at 1-1. Neither side could find an advantage in two 10-minute overtime periods, forcing penalty kicks.

The first half was a tightly contested fair with the Nighthawks’ defense bending but not breaking against the Buffs’ attack. The opening minutes were tentative as players attempted to feel out the other side with neither able to create many dangerous chances from close range. Sophomore midfielder Lukas Juodkunaitis looked to create opportunities by pushing up the left wing along with senior defender Brandon Parsio but couldn’t get past the strong Buffs’ defense. At the end of the first frame, West Texas A&M held a 5-1 shot advantage with no shots on goal from either side.

The second half began in similar fashion with both the Nighthawks and the Buffs being forced to fire in shots from outside. Northwest Nazarene goalkeeper Sawyer Price had to stay sharp in net, making one of his best saves of the night on just the second shot that he faced when he snapped up a ball that was fired in at waist level from behind traffic.

As the pitch opened up and more offense was generated by both teams, it was none other than the Nighthawks’ all-time leading goal scorer Jake Levine who broke the deadlock in the 81st minute with a header that he directed into the back of the net off a free kick by Juodkunaitis from about 30 yards out. The goal put the Northwest Nazarene bench on its feet but the elation proved to be short-lived as West Texas A&M tied up the score just under two minutes later.

The end of regulation finished with the score knotted at 1-1 and overtime ended the same way after initially featuring more open play. The Nighthawks were strong individually in the midfield, creating space to approach the box but unable to find the back of the net. They continued to shut down the Buffs’ long shots into the second half of overtime until the final whistle blew.

With the score officially a 1-1 draw in the books, it came down to penalty kicks to decide who would advance. West Texas A&M elected to change goalkeepers for the shootout, bringing in senior Alfonso Aragon while Northwest Nazarene stayed steady with Price in net. Neither goalkeeper could find a stop in the opening five rounds meaning that whichever side earned a stop and a goal next would advance.

Price came up big with a pair of diving stops in the sixth and seventh rounds, and the Nighthawks could finally breathe a sigh of relief as Daaou drilled his shot home to send Northwest Nazarene onward to the second round.

Northwest Nazarene will face defending NCAA champion and No. 1 seed Cal State LA at the Golden Falcons’ home field on Saturday at 6 p.m.