Northern Arizona is the No. 3 seed in the Big Sky Conference soccer championships and will battle sixth-seeded Eastern Washington in the opening round at 11 a.m. Thursday in Missoula, Mont.
NAU enters the tournament with a 9-5-4 record and went 5-2-3 against Big Sky competition. Eastern Washington is 8-8-0 and 5-5-0. The Lumberjacks suffered a 1-0 loss to the Eagles in Flagstaff during the regular season.
NAU sophomore goaltender Natalie Gilbertson leads the conference with a 0.52 goals against average. She was an honorable mention All-Big Sky selection. The Lumberjacks had two first-team selections: junior forward Haley Wingender and senior center back Sarah Tarver. Wingender was second in the conference with 10 goals and 23 points. Midfielder Cierra Gamble was a second-team selection, and seniors Savannah Berry and Diane Buzzard, junior Ashlynn Curnow, sophomore Demi Schmieder and freshman Adrian Nixt all joined Gilbertson as honorable mentions.
For Eastern Washington, freshman Chloe Williams has six goals, Cassie Black has five and Nathalie Schwery has a 1.17 goals against average.
