MONMOUTH, Ore. — Sydney Lowe scored her fourth goal of the season, but the Central Washington University women's soccer team fell to Western Oregon University 4-2.
Lowe's goal leveled the scoreline at 2-2 in the 63rd minute, capping the Wildcats (3-11-0, 2-8-0) erasure of the Wolves' (5-7-2, 4-4-2) initial 2-0 lead. Lilly Nowatzke completed a hat trick, scoring the first three Western Oregon goals.
The shots were relatively even, but the Wolves held a 16-12 edge. Darien Walton recorded four saves in goal for Western Oregon, while Central's Liz Canton made five.
"We took a while to switch on and Western Oregon was able to be in our defensive third the whole first half," Assistant Coach Emmy Koflanovich said. In the second haIf we came out ready to go and did a great job about getting into the attack. Our biggest weakness is trying to play a full 90 and today we were not able to do that."
Western Oregon's offense tallied twice in the first half. Nowatzke's first goal of the contest came in the 13th minute. Hannah Rispler and Piper Matson combined for the assists. They worked the ball into the attacking Hird where Nowatzke fired a shot in for the lead. Ten minutes later, Nowatzke struck again. She picked up possession off a blocked shot and buried her chance.
Central's offense struggled finding urgency in the opening stanza, taking just two shots. Canton made two of her five saves in the first 45 minutes.
The Wildcats received a bit of help from Western Oregon in the 52nd minute. A shot by Finn Sprankle was blocked by a Wolves' defender. An attempted clearance struck a Western Oregon defender and caromed over the goalkeeper and into the net.
Jaxyn Farmen nearly had the equalizer a minute later, sending a direct kick off the crossbar, but a lucky bounce kept the Wolves' ahead. Walton made a pair of saves on Lowe and Paige Devine, keeping her side ahead, as the Wildcats' offense found a rhythm in the second half.
In the 61st minute, Canton kept the game within reach for the 'Cats. She made a diving save to deny a would-be go-ahead goal.
It was just two minutes later that the Wildcats brought the contest back to level footing. The 'Cats loaded the box on a corner kick from Bella Brown, inviting chaos inside the box on the corner. Brown's kick first found Sophia Keenan, whose shot was blocked, before rattling around and settling near the boot of Lowe.
The Crimson and Black had a pair of near misses in the 70th and 73rd minutes as they fought to pull ahead for the first time.
A trio of shots in the 83rd minute broke the deadlock. The first shot from Matson was turned aside by Canton, but it created a rebound. The second effort from Matson rung the crossbar, caroming to Nowatzke for her third goal.
Central's pressure led to one additional shot, a chance by Morgan Fischel which was turned away by Walton.
Efraimson nabbed the insurance marker for the Wolves in the 88th minute.
The Wildcats are back at Tomlinson Stadium for a pair of GNAC matchups against Simon Fraser University and Western Washington University.
