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Lady Trappers Halted at Three but Coach Impressed With Improvement
Rob Hill believes the Northwest College men’s soccer team has finally turned a corner.
And the head coach knew it was coming all along.
“I felt like this could happen,” Hill said of the Trappers’ season-high four-game winning streak. “We’ve shown a lot of character this season and some of that appeared again over the weekend.”
On Oct. 3, the Trappers traveled to Salt Lake City and rallied to defeat Utah State University Eastern 3-2. NWC faced a 2-1 deficit after the half, but rallied for two goals and the win after the break.
In the 55th minute, Jeremiah Gagnone found Cedric Omoregie for the tying goal, and two minutes later, Omoregie crossed to Sean McManamon, who fired a shot into the back corner of the USUE net. McManamon’s game-winning goal was his second of the day after he tied things in the first half on a goal off a deflected NWC penalty kick.
“I am very proud of scoring two goals,” McManamon said. “But we win as a team and I want to give credit to my support from my midfielders Alex Abalan, Javier Sanchez, Omar Garcia, and Cedric Omoregie.”
Hill reiterated that his team played well despite being down early and again at the half, and Omoregie seemed to know the solution.
“Everyone should stay calm even if we are down in a game,” Omoregie said. “Our team has a high quality, sometimes we just need more self-confidence.”
That confidence made its presence felt the next day, as the Trappers stayed in Salt Lake City for a match with Salt Lake Community College. Alex Abalan score in the 15th minute from a McManamon assist, and in the 76th minute in the second half, Omoregie assisted Sam White for a goal to secure a 2-0 shutout. The NWC men are now 7-4 this season. The Trappers came into the weekend having scored just six goals in away matches while surrendering eight. But winning back-to-back road games had Hill ecstatic.
“Just the fact that we won on the road and had the character to come back after we fell behind, that was special,” Hill said. “And then the shutout afterward ... you need big performances like that when the regular season is beginning to wind down like it is.”
It wasn’t a perfect weekend for NWC soccer, as the women saw their three-game winning streak end at the hands of USUE.
Despite a 3-1 defeat, Hill was happy with the women’s performance, saying that a few bad breaks decided the game.
“The women played well in this game, they had a good performance. They passed the ball well and did a good job of defending,” he said. “It was a silly mistake that did them in. We were punished by a silly mistake.”
That mistake came in the 33rd minute in the first half. USUE played a ball in the box, but Hill said some confusion from his defenders allowed the Golden Eagles to finish. Later, a free kick pushed the USUE lead to 2-0 before halftime. The Eagles led 3-0 before Rachel Lane found Gabby Gonzales in the 72nd minute to break up the shutout.
It was a tough result for the Lady Trappers, who had a chance to pull their record to .500, but instead fell to 4-6. Still, Hill was optimistic after the match.
“There are things we need to clean up but we are definitely looking a lot better,” he said.
The NWC men and women stay home for matches on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Trappers will host Western Nebraska Community College on Friday and Laramie County Community College on Saturday for 1 p.m. contests. The NWC men’s matches with those teams will begin shortly after the women’s game.