EUGENE, Ore.  – The NCU women's soccer team opened CCC play in Montana this weekend, falling to Carroll College and the University of Great Falls. The Beacons walked away with plenty of positives from their longest road trip of the season.
 
Playing against the newest associate CCC members for the first time, NCU fell to Carroll College 2-0 on Friday afternoon. The Saints scored both of their goals in the first half despite the Beacons outshooting the home team with five shots-on-goal in the period.
 
The second half was all Carroll, outshooting the Beacons 9-1, but senior keeper Kristin Fulbright kept NCU alive, making nine saves. The Beacons thought they had put one on the board midway through the second half when Emily Miller (pictured) fired a free-kick from just outside the box on a dead straight line to the back of the net, off the fingers of the Carroll keeper. The goal, however, was called off after some confusion with the call that was made by the official, stating that it shouldn't have been allowed to be a direct free-kick after the infraction.
 
Head Coach Jessica Cardwell said, "Although the score doesn't reflect it, we stepped on the field today and brought our game to Carroll. We were effected by some difficult officiating, but our girls kept their heads and continued to fight. We were so impressed and are so proud of the effort we got from our team today."
 
NCU was able to carry that momentum into their Saturday class at Great Falls, outplaying the Argos throughout the match but settling for a 2-1 loss. The Beacons out-shot UGF 21-12 in the game and posted a season-high with 11 shots-on-goal.
 
It was a slow start, however, that doomed the Beacons as Great Falls went ahead with two goals in the first five minutes of the game. NCU dominated play from that point on and grabbed the first goal of the CCC season in the 50th minute. Miller was able to put the disappointing non-goal from Friday behind her, scoring off a pass from Sami Wilson for the first goal of her career.
 
Fulbright finished with five saves for the Beacons.
 
"We are so good but we don't necessarily believe it yet," said Cardwell. "Every time we step on the field we allow them to get something easy on us and then we kick it into gear. We should have won and we could have won today and I'm looking forward to getting back home this weekend."
 
The Beacons will return to Mike Kelly Field on Friday, taking on Oregon Tech at 4:30 pm.