NAMPA, Idaho - After giving up back-to-back goals in a two minute stretch, Saint Martin's responded with a goal from Brandon Madsen in the 88th minute to cut the score to 2-1 in a road loss to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday.

The Saints (0-8-0, 0-3-0 GNAC) and the Crusaders (4-3-0, 1-1-0) each created attacking opportunities to take an early lead in the first half. The Crusaders' shot in the 5th minute was saved by Griffin Small, and the Saints responded with three corner kicks in a 12 minute span. After the first 45 minutes, however, neither team was able to break through the others' defense and score.

Each team remained scoreless until the 65th minute when a Northwest Nazarene cross to the middle of box found Michael Bryant for his third goal of the season. The Crusaders added one more goal in 1:56 minutes after a clearing pass by Small was intercepted by Keon Jones for his first goal of the season.

With the time running out on the Saints, Brandon Madsen, who scored in four straight matches earlier this season, managed to knott his fifth goal when a free kick from Sebastian Navarro found Madsen's header from inside the box. 

The Saints forced a corner kick in the final 40 seconds; however, Northwest Nazarene was able to hang on to the 2-1 conference victory.

"We had a really good start to the game in the opening half," said head coach Rob Walker. "Brandon Madsen had a great header that just missed wide to the goalkeeper's left and Kyle Witzel raked a half volley taht was just outside the keeper's far post. We had a good solid defending effort in the half as well. All in all, to go down 2-0 and to come back again is a really good feeling. We will take this feeling on the road to Montana State Billings on Saturday."

This game was pretty frustrating," said Navarro. "We were back and forth the whole match and we had two mental lapses that they capitalized on. We are on the right track but need to find that last missing piece. Once we do, I feel like we will be able to take over the league. Now we got MSUB on Saturday and we have to rest and focus to be able to get a W."

Madsen led the Saints with three shots, one on goal and one goal. Senior Kyle Witzel recorded two shots, one landing on target while Navarro was credited with his team-leading third assist of the season.

Griffin Small started the game at goalkeeper for SMU, going all 90 minutes, allowing two goals while making eight saves on 14 shots faced.

The Saints continue their road trip east, with a stop in Billings, Montana for a matchup with GNAC opponent Montana State Billings. First-touch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. with live stats and video links available on smusaints.com.