FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- The Northern Arizona women’s soccer team, playing its final Friday night contest of the season, got a goal late in overtime from sophomore midfielder Nicole Sherwin to pull out a 1-0 win over Northern Colorado.
All five seniors -- Alana D’Onofrio, Shawnee Morgan, Jordan Stenger,
Elinor Priest and Lauren Weaver -- were playing in their final Friday night match
at NAU. Their final home game will be Sunday at noon against Northern Colorado.
“Northern Colorado is such a talented team with some special players,” said NAU coach Andre Luciano. “Being the last Friday regular-season game at home, we had to control our emotions, and once the game settled down we did a great job of possessing the ball.”
Sherwin received a pass from junior midfielder Savannah Berry and was able to chip the ball over the Bears goalkeeper to send the Lumberjacks off with a win.
“Coach Luciano always tells me that he has a lot of confidence in me,” said Sherwin. “He tells me to stay focused, and I have confidence going into the game, and I know I can help the team whether it’s with an assist or a goal. Tonight, it just happened to be a goal.”
It was Sherwin’s second goal of the season and also her second game-winning goal in Big Sky play this year.
The game went into halftime 0-0 with very little action on offense. The two teams combined for five total shots, with only one shot on goal from NAU.
The offense picked up for the Lumberjacks in the second half, as their shot total increased from three shots in the first half to seven in the second half. They thought they had a goal midway through the second half from sophomore forward Haley Wingender, but she was called offside.
Weaver, playing in net, recorded her sixth shutout of the season and the 17th of her career at NAU, which earned its first home overtime win this year.
All five seniors impacted the game, with Stenger playing a big part in NAU's increased offensive pressure in the second half and overtime.
“Jordan came into the game and fought and completely changed the game for us,” said Luciano. “She was the reason why we won the game.”
