NU's Matt Walton scores the Eagles' first goal against the Cavaliers.
Northwest U. Scores Upset Win Over Concordia
KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Northwest University Eagles continued to score goals and pulled off the upset by defeating league leading Concordia University, 3-0, today in the wind and rain in Cascade Conference play. Northwest has now scored 8 goals in their last two games.
With the rain coming down and the wind bending the trees surrounding the field, Matt Walton (Sr., Tacoma, Wash.) put Northwest U. on the scoreboard first with his rocket from 15 yards out down the middle at the 41:24 mark in the first half. Teammate Kyle Tatro (Soph., Issaquah, Wash.) had the assist on the play.
In the second half, with the rain easing up, Northwest U. would score again in the 74th minute on freshman Alex Taylor's (Mill Creek, Wash.) goal from ten yards out with the assist coming from Luke Fischer (Soph., Kalispell, Mont.). Kyle Tatro would seal the upset victory with his goal with 45 seconds left in the game from 20 yards out and teammate Jason Skolnik (Fresh., Port Orchard) getting the assist on the shot.
NU goalkeeper Brian Swanson (Sr., Everett, Wash.) came up big for the Eagles with 6 saves as Concordia out shot Northwest, 16-10. Five of Swanson’s saves came in the second half and CU stepped up their attack and out shot NU 12-8. Concordia goalie, Claudio Lazar, had 2 saves for the Cavaliers.
"I am proud of the team for their relentless effort today," commented Eagle Coach Gary McIntosh. "Anytime you can beat the number one team in the conference it is a great win. They played to win and were rightly rewarded. At halftime, the coaching staff was not entirely pleased with the overall effort of play but they showed in the second half the team play we expect from them," McIntosh continued. "Senior Matt Walton, was the spark we needed in the game today, he stepped up and scored a big goal for us in the first half. His leadership was what we needed today. Two more goals scored by Alex Taylor and Kyle Tatro just capped off a good day of soccer for the team. The defense was solid and they did a great job not giving Concordia any good looks at goal. Brian Swanson, did a good job managing the back for us and collected a well deserved shutout. We will enjoy the win today but get back to work tomorrow as we prepare for a game on Saturday," Coach McIntosh concluded.
For Concordia it was only their second loss in the conference (8-3-1, 7-2 CCC) and Northwest evened their record at 5-5-2 and 3-5-0 in the CCC.
The Eagles will now head to Eugene, Oregon for a match up with Northwest Christian on October 17 at 7:00 p.m. The Eagles just defeated Northwest Christian at home, 5-0, on Saturday.