NAMPA, Idaho — After a strong start to the season, all the Crusaders wanted Saturday was a victory in their league opener.

A couple of timely team saves and a persistent offensive attack made sure Northwest Nazarene got what it wanted as the Crusader men's soccer team dominated Montana State Billings, topping the Yellowjackets 2-0 in the the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

"We are obviously happy to open conference with a win," said NNU head men's soccer coach Coe Michaelson, whose team outshot the 'Jackets, 27-10.

"Today just wasn't our day in front of the goal," he added.
 

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Still, the Crusaders (4-1-0 overall, 1-0-0 GNAC) came up with enough offense to earn the win as Erik Anderson netted his fifth goal of the season, redirecting a corner kick by Julio Castillo that trickled through the defense and into the net with 11 minutes, 48 seconds gone in the action.

From there, NNU came on in ways looking to break the game open, but many of NNU's chances either missed the mark or were stopped by Montana State Billings goalkeeper Tom Lohmann, who had seven saves.

That gave the Yellowjackets (0-3-2, 0-1-0) a chance to steal the contest if they could net a goal of their own, but NNU goalkeeper Alfredo E. Ontiveros and his teammates were not going to let that happen.

Ontiveros recorded his 11^th career shutout at NNU making six saves, and got some help during a second-half flurry that nearly tied the game.

Fourteen minutes into the second half, Ontiveros made a diving save on Thorge Jess, and chaos ensued as the Yellowjackets fired three more rebound chances at NNU's goal from close range.

Yannick Petzsche stepped in front of one shot, Luke Broz blocked another and Ontiveros added a second save in the rapid-fire rally, keeping the score in the Crusaders favor, 1-0.

"We are happy to get the shutout," Michaelson said, "that was a big key for us today. I thought we defended well when called upon."

Montana State Billings then picked up a pair of red-cards in the ensuing five minutes, allowing NNU to control play the final 30 minutes of the game.

And in those final 30 minutes, the Crusaders tacked on one more goal as Rene Duevel headed in a pass from Stephen Davidson with 19:29 left to play, icing the win.

"I actually think we were much better before the red cards," said Michaelson. "I feel we lost our focus a bit and didn't kill the game off in the way we should.

"But those days happen."

And it didn't hurt the Crusaders one bit, as they grabbed three points to open GNAC play in preparation for a crucial road trip to Western Washington on Thursday and No. 17 Simon Fraser on Saturday.