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Billings, Mont. – Head coach Wojtek Krakowiak has the Montana State Billings women's soccer team playing in great rhythm as they approach the halfway point of the season. After pulling out a tough victory against Saint Martins' on Thursday, Sept. 20, the Yellowjackets traveled to Nampa, Idaho on Saturday, Sept. 22 to compete against a good Northwest Nazarene team. MSUB faced the challenge head on and defeated the Crusaders 1-0 with a late second half goal.
 
The Crusaders started on the attack early, taking two shots within the first three minutes of play with one landing on target. Being challenged early, the Yellowjackets backline blocked the first attempt and freshman goal keeper Aiko Johnson saved the second attempt.
 
MSUB countered with shots by Heidi Greenback (4:34) and Haley McFarlane (6:41). Unfortunately, these attempts would not produce any scores as they both landed wide of the goal.
 
The Yellowjackets started to pick up the pace offensively and between the 17^th and 34^th minute took four shots with three being on target. Sophomore midfielder Chelsea Shuman took two shots on goal during this barrage. Closing out the half both teams had two shot attempts each but neither yielded any goals and MSUB and Northwest Nazarene entered the break all notched at 0-0.
 
MSUB started out strong in the second half, controlling the possession of the ball from the start. Whitney Siler took a shot on goal in the 59^th minute that was saved by the Crusaders' Tanya Zickefoose. Siler's shot sparked more offense from the Jackets. In the 63^rd minute freshman midfielder Katlyn Lokay took her lone shot on goal attempt of the game that was saved by the opposition's goal keeper.
 
The turning point of the match came moments later in the 67^th minute, when Lokay gave senior forward Jaucelyn Richter a brilliant pass to put her in position to effectively score the only goal of the game, putting the Yellowjackets up 1-0. Richter received the pass and blasted a right cross shot to land in the back left corner of the goal.
 
This score marks Richter's 25^th career goal and moves her to third (72 total points) on the all-time MSUB women's soccer scoring list.
 
Facing a one point deficit, the Crusaders went back on the attack and took two shots between the 71^st minute and the 78^th minute. While one attempt was on target, Johnson made a key save to keep Northwest Nazarene off the scoring column.
 
The Crusaders took one more shot on goal attempt in the 88^th minute that was also saved and MSUB went on to win their fourth Great Northwest Athletic Conference game and eighth overall.
 
“Northwest Nazarene is a very good team,” Krakowiak said. “We are happy to come away with a quality conference win against a difficult opponent, and we look forward to our upcoming matches next weekend.”
 
Johnson had four saves on the day en route to her sixth shutout of the year. Overall MSUB slightly outshot the Crusaders 15-11, and had five more (9-4) shot on goal attempts than their counterpart.
 
The Yellowjackets next conference matchup will be in Burnaby, British Columbia against Simon Fraser University on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time).