Bears Soccer Defeats Northern Arizona in Overtime, 2-1

Friday, October 9

Flagstaff, Ariz.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

9-5-0

Northern Arizona

6-6-1

OT 2

UNC

Northern Arizona

10/9/2015 8:57:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Northern Colorado moves to 4-0 in Big Sky play after Friday night's win in Flagstaff

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Northern Colorado Bears defeated the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Friday, 2-1 in overtime.

The Bears outshot the Lumberjacks 13-9 overall, taking five shots on goal throughout the 94 minutes of play. This is the first time since joining the Big Sky in 2006 that UNC has started their conference schedule 4-0.

"Credit to NAU – they fought all the way until the final whistle and scored a fantastic goal with two seconds to go in the second half to put us into overtime," head coach Tim Barrera said. "They came out and put us on our heels in the second half so we had to do a lot more defending there."

The Bears got the first shot of the game only three minutes in – a shot on goal by freshman Mariel Gutierrez. NAU responded four minutes later, but UNC goalkeeper Madeline Burdick got the save, her first of three on the night.

Northern Colorado would take another three shots before 31 minutes elapsed in the half, finally landing one in goal right at the 33 minute mark with sophomore Brooke Braden picking up her fourth goal of the season. The goal would be the only of the half for either team, sending the game into halftime with the Bears up 1-0.

Braden kicked the second half off quickly, attempting a shot a minute in, but the ball was knocked away by NAU defenders.

Despite seven total shots in the half, the Bears were unable to score again, and were defensively holding the Lumberjacks to the same.

Unfortunately, NAU's Missy Kettelkamp managed to get the ball right out of Burdick's reach in goal, tying up the game (1-1) with two seconds left in the second half.

As the game entered overtime, the Lumberjacks made the first goal attempt, but the shot went just high, landing on top of the goal net.

Junior Sydney Schroeder made the sole Bear goal attempt in overtime, knocking the ball straight into the net after the NAU goalkeeper came out of the goal, leaving it wide open.

The goal was Schroeder's fourth game-winning goal of the season, and fifth total in 2015.

"A lot of credit to how well our players regrouped going into overtime," Barrera noted. "We had a great opportunity in the first minute that we didn't convert, but then in the third minute, we took advantage of a mistake in the back with Schroeder running the ball in to end the game. There was a fantastic crowd today and it's always great to win here in Flagstaff."

Northern Colorado remains on the road for the remainder of the weekend, traveling to Cedar City, Utah where they'll face Southern Utah on Sunday afternoon [1PM MT].

For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com, visit the official Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter at @UNCBearsSoccer.