KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Northwest University men's soccer team rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Ottawa University Arizona, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon in Kirkland.
The Eagles improve to 1-1-1 on the season, while OUAZ falls to 1-2-1.
Ottawa struck first in the 34th minute when Harry Dwelly found the back of the net off an assist from Marcos Chavez, giving the Spirit a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Northwest came out with renewed energy in the second half, eventually finding the equalizer in the 74th minute. Nick Rivera scored his first goal of the afternoon off an assist from Titus Bishop to bring the Eagles level at 1-1.
Just under eight minutes later, Rivera struck again. In the 82nd minute, Rivera connected on a pass from Benjamin Toscano to give Northwest its first lead of the afternoon at 2-1.
The Eagles held off a late push from Ottawa to secure the victory.
Rivera led the Northwest attack with two goals on three shots on goal. Bishop and Toscano each recorded an assist. Goalkeeper Bailey Hopkins made four saves in the victory.
Northwest finished the match with 13 shots, including five on target, while OUAZ recorded 14 shots and five shots on goal. Both teams earned three corner kicks.
Head Coach Gary McIntosh commented about the game: "The boys deserved the win today. They made a choice to compete with energy, toughness, and heart, and that is a formula that puts you in a position to have opportunities to win games. Today, we created those opportunities, and we took advantage of them. Going down a goal could have easily caused us to hang our heads or lose our belief, but we didn't. We stayed together, continued to compete, and believed we could still win the game. That is something we have talked about over the last few weeks, and today we saw it come to life.
"This was a step forward for our team not just because we won, but because of how we responded when things didn't go our way. Now the challenge is to build off this. We cannot be satisfied with one good performance. We need to continue bringing that same energy, fight, belief, and togetherness every time we step on the field."
Northwest will return to action on Sunday, August 30, traveling to Spokane, Wash., for an exhibition match against Gonzaga University. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
