Your future, our focus
The Northwest Trappers, 15-4-1, can add three marks to their history books.
The first of three remarkable feats came after losing last year at the region tournament to Laramie County Community College. This year, the Trappers came back to provide restitution to their region foes as they beat the Golden Eagle 2-1 to advance in the tournament to play Otero Junior College. Earlier this season, the Trappers tied Otero, then lost later in the season, but the thrid time was the charm as Northwest defeated Otero 2-1 to advance to the District tournament.
The second and third noteworthy feats are truly outstanding as the soccer program finds itself being Nationally ranked in only its second year of existence. After a week of beating out NJCAA I #15, Laramie County CC and NJCAA I #13, Otero Junior College, the Trappers of Northwest College have garnished a #18 national ranking. Additionally, Rob Hill (Head Coach) and his team have found themselves for the first time in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) rankings at #14! These rankings spell out great things to come for Northwest.
"I am very proud of what our team has achieved this year and is a major step forward in building a winning culture and program," comments Hill, "While it is fantastic for the players to be recognized in the National Rankings, we are definitely remaining focused on getting ready for Districts Friday."
Northwest players have shared their success amongst the team both offensively and defensively. Leonardo Medeiros leads the Trappers in goals with 17 for the season, and is ranked statistically as a top 25 player in points as well as a top 20 player in goals made. Along with Medeiros, multiple players have been called upon to put the ball in the back of the net as Adrian Elicerio and Helio Junior both have 8 goals; Legofi Crawford has 7, Dean Johnson and Matheus Santos each found the back of the net 6 times, while Alan Da Costa reached 5 goals on the season. You can find the same names amongst the leaders in the assist category as well: Johnson leads in assists with 11, Elicerio earned 9, Da Costa and Santos each have 8, and the team’s leading scorer, Medeiros, chipped in for 6 on the season.
The team could not have its success without its defense protecting the goal. In the net, Cameron Stanek has saved the ball 121 times on the season and averages a shutout one in every three games played. Additionally, Northwest has outscored their opponents 69 to 29. While the offense side has averaged 3.5 goals per game, their defensive comrades have held their opponents to 1.5 keeping the Trappers in every match they play.
Coach Hill agrees and adds, "The defense and goalkeepers (Kyle Stewart and Stanek) has been something we have worked on all season as we made careless errors in those earlier games and conceded unecessary goals. They finally came together at the Regional tournament and really worked well as a unit. Brad Ramsey has been a tremendous leader at the back, along with Shane Scrivner adn Erik Rodriguez. We have had two new freshmen who have been fantastic additions in Kory Jansma from Cody and Tony Orozco from Denver; they have both added much needed depth and quality to the defense."