Your future, our focus
Women, Men Foiled Over Weekend
Soccer season ended over the weekend for both the men’s and women’s teams at Northwest College. Both teams met their demise at the hands of Western Wyoming — a program the Trapper teams had swept during the regular season.
Both Northwest College teams wrap up their seasons one win shy of a district tournament appearance.
On Saturday, the Northwest College women outshot Western Wyoming by a 15-3 margin, but one of the Mustangs’ shots was able to curl just under the crossbar with 20 minutes remaining to account for the only score of the game.
The Trapper women played tentative in the opening 45 minutes as Western Wyoming sagged defensively and seemed content to try and turn away offensive surge after offensive surge by the Northwest College women. Samhia Simao gave Northwest its best scoring chance of the first half, swerving a free kick around a four-player Western Wyoming wall, but into the hands of the Mustangs’ goalkeeper.
The Trappers also had a stellar breakaway opportunity in the first minute of the second half, splitting Western’s central defenders to get a oneon- one against the goalkeeper. The attempt to lob the ball over the charging keeper deflected off the crossbar, bounding harmlessly into the air.
The Trappers shaved the goal or sent the goalkeeper sprawling on other occasions as well before Western’s second shot attempt of the game resulted in the only score. Northwest mustered considerable pressure on Western’s defense over the final 20 minutes, but never found the back of the net for an equalizing goal, enabling Western Wyoming to escape from town with a 1-0 win and claim Region IX’s final spot in the district tournament.
The NWC women close their season at 11-7-1.
The weekend also brought heartbreak for the Trapper men, who advanced to their third consecutive Region IX championship game, but couldn’t duplicate the magic that sent the team to its first district tournament appearance last year.
After earning their place in Cheyenne this past weekend as part of the Region IX tournament’s final four, the Trappers scored an exhausting shoot-out victory over rival Otero on Saturday. Northwest College trailed 2-1 at intermission, but rallied with two goals in the second half to force a 3-3 tie with the Rattlers.
Northwest and Otero played through two scoreless overtime periods, sending the contest to a shoot-out. In that one-on-one showdown between shooter and goalkeeper, the Trappers sent five shots past Otero’s goalkeeper to score a 5-4 shootout win to advance to Sunday’s championship game.
In the title game, the Trappers faced a Western Wyoming team that had endured an equally dramatic victory over nationally- ranked Laramie County Community College, the tournament’s top seed.
Like the Trappers, Western Wyoming ended its semifinal contest deadlocked on the scoreboard. Western and LCCC then played through an additional 30 minutes of scoreless soccer to arrive at a shoot-out, which the
Mustangs won by a 4-2 count.
Western went on to capture a 2-1 win over the Trappers in the title game, denying Northwest’s attempt at back-to-back regional championships. NWC head coach Rob Hill had not returned a call seeking further details and Region IX had not made stats from the championship game available as of press time.
The Trapper men conclude the year with a 15-6 overall record.