SACRAMENTO -- Junior Abigail Lopez converted a penalty in the 55th minute for the match's only goal and senior goalkeeper Mia Shalit made a season-high eight saves for her first clean sheet of the year as the Sacramento State women's soccer team upset defending Big Sky Conference champion Northern Arizona, 1-0, in the league opener for both teams on Friday at Hornet Soccer Field.
The win for the Hornets put an end to a four-match winless streak, improving them to 3-5-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play. It was Sacramento State's first victory since a 1-0 triumph against UC Riverside back on Aug. 31, and the first regular season win over the Lumberjacks since 2015.
Meanwhile, NAU suffered its first road setback of the year and saw their five-match (4-0-1) unbeaten streak come to an end, falling to 5-3-2 overall and 0-1 in league.
Lopez came through with the contests' only score after the break, making good on her attempt from the spot after teammate Ellie Farber was taken down in the box by an Northern Arizona defender. Lopez then easily converted to the upper right corner, catching the Lumberjack keeper flat-footed, for the 1-0 lead.
Her score was her 10th career goal, moving Lopez to within three of breaking into the school's all-time top-10 list for the category, and her fourth career conversion from the penalty spot, ranking her just three behind former teammate
Aubrey Goodwill for the most in school history.
Sacramento State didn't sit back, pushing forward in an attempt to double its advantage by taking seven of the next nine shot attempts while successfully defending a pair of NAU corners.
After that, the Lumberjacks turned up the heat in search of the equalizer. The Lumberjacks unleashed the next four shots — including an attempt by Josie Novak that hit the right post and bounced back to her only to have Shalit smother the rebound attempt. Joey Lujan also had an attempt turned away by Shalit and the defense came up big to defend four more Lumberjack corners in a two-minute span.
With time winding down, Shalit came up with two more saves in the final 1:45, denying Maddie Shafer in the 89th minute and making a stop on an attempt by Haylee Phoenix with two seconds remaining to secure the win.
Shalit's eight saves were one more than she had collected in her three previous appearances and were the most for her since she stopped 11 shots against Northern Arizona in the 2022 regular season finale in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Sacramento State closes out the week on the road on Sunday (Sept. 24), traveling to Greeley, Colo., to take on winless Northern Colorado at 11 a.m. PT. The Bears (0-10-1, 0-1) fell to Portland State, 2-1, on Friday night in Oregon.
