LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's men's soccer team, the 2021 NCAA Division II champions, saw its title reign come to a stunning end Saturday in University Stadium.

The Golden Eagles never could get untracked against an inspired Northwest Nazarene team and fell to the Nighthawks, 2-1, in a Super Region 4 second-round match. Cal State LA (15-2-3), the No. 1 seed in the Super Region 4, tied the game at 1-1 on a goal by Lucas Rosales in the 75th minute, but Northwest Nazarene responded with the game-winner less than a minute later. Cal State LA was unable to answer and the No. 8 seed Nighthawks (14-3-3), the champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, advanced to the Super Region 4 semi-finals next week at a site still to be determined.

Cal State LA was the two-time defending Super Region 4 champions and was hosting the Super Region playoffs for a third consecutive season. The Golden Eagles were 5-0-1 in two previous Super Region 4 games, but suffered their first defeat on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles also saw an end to the best three-year run in program history that has included a 52-5-9 record, two Super Region 4 championships, two national championship game appearances, one national championship, two California Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season championships and two CCAA tournament titles.

Cal State LA had a 15-14 edge in shots, but only five of those attempts were on frame. Northwest Nazarene had a 9-6 edge in the second half and got the two goals to win. The Nighthawks were also denied some golden opportunities by Cal State LA's tremendous goalkeeper Alvaro Unanua, a two-time national champion. Unanua made seven saves and defender Manuel Garcia also had a clutch block of a shot that seemed destined to find the net.

The Golden Eagles had a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.

Northwest Nazarene started to build momentum toward the end of the first half and carried that into the second period. Unanua made a brilliant save of a shot by Jonathan Cardona in the 53rd minute and Lukas Juodkunaitis had a rebound attempt that cleared away by Garcia.

Juodkunaitis wouldn't be denied in the 55th minute when he finished a corner kick from Cardona that cleared a cluster of players and went right to him. He one-timed it inside the far post for his first of two goals on the night.

Cal State LA responded with some pressure and found the equalizer when Rosales notched his fourth goal of the season. Simon Johansen sent back in an attempted clearance to an open Rosales close to the goal and he settled it and fired it inside the near post in the 75th minute.

The Nighthawks came right back less than one minute later when an open Juodkunaitis received a perfect pass from Ethan Atterberry and shot it inside the far post for the game-winner.

Cal State LA had two opporunities in the latter stages of the match, but a shot by Bryan Ortega sailed high and a bid by Daniel Garcia went wide in the final minute.

Garcia had three shots for the Golden Eagles, while Carl Solli, Oliver Diaz, and Anton Olofsson had two shots each.