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Red Cards Unravel Trappers Thursday
The Northwest College men’s soccer team showed a marked improvement in the second of two early-season scrimmages.
The Trappers tied Rocky Mountain College 2-2 in Cody on Saturday after falling to the University of Great Falls 6-2 at home on Thursday.
The physicality that seemed to get the better of NWC against the Argos didn’t hold them back against the Battlin’ Bears two days later.
“I think against Rocky we got better at that,” head coach Rob Hill said. “Some of the guys aren’t used to the physicality of the game, so they’re quickly learning they have to hold their own in that respect.
“Toward the latter end of the game I felt we were matching them in that area.”
The Trappers will have a chance to match the Bears’ muscle for a full 90 minutes this Friday, when the team’s rematch at 6 p.m. in Billings.
Northwest then travels to Bismarck, North Dakota, to scrimmage the University of Mary at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
NORTHWEST 2, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 2
The Trappers scored late in each half to walk away with a tie against the Bears at Memorial Field in Cody.
Javier Sanchez tied the game at 1-1 when he fooled the Rocky Mountain goalie with a 25-yard chip shot.
“I think it struck the keeper by surprise,” Hill said.
The Bears broke the tie on a free kick just before the first half whistle sounded, and the Trappers went to halftime trailing by a goal.
The score remained 2-1 for most of the second half, until freshman Lane Thorne scored his second goal of the preseason (he scored during the NWC Alumni game).
“He took a shot and it took a bit of deflection, but sometimes you need a bit of luck,” Hill said.
The coach said the Trappers were pushing hard for the win in the final 10 minutes of the game but couldn’t find a third score.
Hill said Rocky’s first goal was largely due to the inexperience of the Trappers’ back line.
“(It was) just a silly mistake really, we’ve got new people playing back there,” Hill said.
Northwest used just three defensive backs, a tactic Hill said he was testing in case they need to shift to a more offensive formation this season.
“I normally play with four in the back, we played with three in the back (on Saturday),” Hill said. “We had a more attacking formation, and I think for the most part it worked.”
The Trappers used that formation almost exclusively during Hill’s first season at the helm, and they reaped the rewards on the offensive end, though concessions must be made on defense.
“It certainly creates opportunities, but you have to understand what you’re doing defensively,” Hill said. “It depends on the game and what situation the game is in.”
GREAT FALLS 6, NORTHWEST 2
The Trappers tried to fight an uphill battle shorthanded during Saturday afternoon’s scrimmage against the University of Great Falls.
The Trappers conceded an early goal, and were issued a red card in each half as they finished with just eight men on the pitch in the 6-2 loss.
Mitchell Pinney and Felix Pastenes scored for the Trappers while a trio of goalkeepers was used as the last line of the Northwest defense.
Hill knew coming into the game his team was not yet prepared for an overly physical match, and the Trappers proved him right in the early going of their first full-game competition.
“We got bullied on two set pieces, two corners,” Hill said. “We just got absolutely outmuscled, really.”
Some of Northwest’s muscle was pushed all the way off the pitch by the referee.
Starting sophomore keeper Alex Basulto was issued a red card for his aggressive challenge on a Great Falls attacker early in the first half.
“The first red card with Alex was unfortunate. We missed two tackles and I felt that let him down more than anything else,” Hill said. “When you’re the last man bearing down on goal all you can do is go for the ball.
“I don’t have any blame in Alex, really, he did what he had to do.”
Sophomore defenseman Arturo Hernandez earned an avoidable red card in the second half when he refused to approach the referee, who was going to give him a yellow card.
Hill said neither incident “was malicious,” but Hernandez’s was “just silly, and he was in the wrong.”
The referee was trying to establish control of the game, and sent Hernandez off following the defender’s retreat and refusal to return to where the referee was standing.
“I think the message there was, ‘Do what I ask and there will be no problems,’” Hill said. “We didn’t have any yellow cards in the second game so I think that was an important lesson.”
Hill spun the red cards into a positive even though it threw the Trappers out of their system.
“We still scored with nine men, so it wasn’t bad,” Hill said “It was a good lesson for them and it really helped with their match fitness.”
Northwest answered Great Falls — which scored less than five minutes into the game — midway through the first half.
Pinney, a freshman from Brush Prairie, Washington, took the ball in transition just behind midfield. He dribbled left, drew an Argos defender to him and passed it ahead to a wide open Danny Mort. Mort, a freshman from Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, waited as Pinney raced through a pair of defenders and sent him a ball near the top of the box. The Great Falls keeper challenged Pinney, who pitched the ball over the keeper and into the net.
“I always try and bring in quick wingers,” Hill said. “We’ve got a couple of deceptive players that are quicker than they look, Mitchell stands out because his speed is exceptional. It doesn’t take him a lot to get going.”
Pastenes scored with just 3:30 left in the game to cut the lead to 5-2, and the Argos answered back two minutes later for their sixth and final goal.
Great Falls broke the 1-1 tie four minutes prior to halftime, and went up 3-1 with a goal 10 minutes into the second half.
Northwest had a chance to make it a one-goal game again when George Battersby found himself all alone with the keeper shortly after Great Falls’ third tally.
The freshman from Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, entered the top of the box just left of center and tried to punch it past the sprawling keeper. Battersby’s shot never left the ground and deflected off the keeper’s left shin pad. The rebound was corralled by the recovering Argos defense as Battersby held his head in his hands in disbelief.
The near-miss was perhaps the last chance the Trappers had at regaining any momentum.
The Argos added a fourth goal with 20 minutes left in the game and tacked on a fifth 10 minutes after that.