Southern Utah Drops Season Opener 2-0 to Northern Arizona

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Aug. 23 - Southern Utah surrendered two goals within the first 16 minutes of the game and had to battle from behind throughout the rest of the contest, falling 2-0 to Northern Arizona in the season opener on Sunday afternoon. NAU evened its record at 1-1-0 with the victory while the Thunderbirds drop to 0-1-0 with the loss.

"I thought we played them tough today," head coach Brian Stock said. "We made two miscues early in the game, but we figured things out and that learning curve took about 16 minutes for us today.

"We were right with them the rest of the way," he continued. "It is just a difficult position to figure things out in a game when you are down."

Northern Arizona scored the first goal of the game in the 13th minute, taking advantage of a late shift by the Thunderbird defense as Lauren Zallis knocked a ball into the lower left corner of the goal on a pass by Brenna Boies.

Zallis struck again in the 16th minute as her free kick just outside the 18-yard box snuck just inside the top corner of the goal.

Southern Utah countered with its best opportunity in the first half in the 23rd minute as Laura Goodrich collected a loose ball in the box and beat the keeper to the far post, but the ball careened off the post and out of play.

The Thunderbirds went into the break down 2-0, but looked to break into that margin in the 80th minute as SUU freshman Morgan Bridge's free kick from 20 yards bent towards the goal, but was saved by NAU keeper Natasha Slaughter.

Slaughter finished the game with five saves on nine shots, while SUU keeper Charly Booth finished the day with four saves on ten shots by the Lumberjacks.

Southern Utah will now look to regroup as the team hosts its next opponent, Idaho State, on Friday night at 5:00 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Charly Booth: GK; 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman

#9 Morgan Bridge: MF; 5' 7"; Freshman

#6 Laura Goodrich: MF; 5' 7"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#1 Charly Booth
: 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman
: GK

#9 Morgan Bridge
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: MF

#6 Laura Goodrich
: 5' 7"; Senior
: MF

Players Mentioned

#1 Charly Booth

#9 Morgan Bridge

#6 Laura Goodrich

Players Mentioned

#1 Charly Booth

#9 Morgan Bridge

#6 Laura Goodrich