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Soccer Teams Host Scrimmage In Cody On Monday - Volleyball hosts Sheridan Aug. 18
Summer is officially over at Northwest College as student-athletes for the men’s and women’s soccer teams as well as the Trappers’ volleyball program began fall practices on Monday. Teams will hold multiple practices daily in preparation for the official start of the fall season, which is later this month.
Fans of the Trappers’ soccer program won’t have long to wait. Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to Billings this Saturday for scrimmage games against Rocky Mountain College. Rocky Mountain College will repay the Trappers by coming to Wyoming to play the Trappers in a Monday scrimmage at Cody.
“This will be a great opportunity,” said Rex Myers, interim athletic director for the Trappers. “We’ve had a number of players on both our men’s and women’s teams that played high school soccer in Cody and this will be a chance for fans there to see the teams play without having to travel to Powell.”
The Trapper men are the defending Region IX champion, accomplishing that feat in only their second year of existence last fall. This year, 2011 Region IX co-coach of the year Rob Hill will see a reset of sorts out on the pitch as many of the players from last year’s program have graduated, ushering in a host of new faces to take their place this season.
On the women’s side, coach Kaylin Olivas has seven Region IX first-team selections from 2011 back in uniform, including Region IX freshman of the year Haley Ahrenholtz and 2011 team scoring leader Samiha Simao. The Trapper women are looking to build upon a campaign that saw them tie for the regular-season Region IX title and knock off nationallyranked Laramie County during the regular season.
Both soccer teams will have additional work to do this season. Trinidad State joins Region IX this season, expanding the region’s membership to seven teams on the men’s side. Trinidad and Otero both begin their inaugural seasons as women’s programs, giving the Trapper women a region filled with six teams for the postseason.
The women’s scrimmage in Cody against Rocky Mountain will start at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The men’s game will follow with opening kick at approximately 7:30 p.m. The Northwest College Trapper Booster Club will host a table with giveaways and membership opportunities at the game.
In addition to the two preseason games against Rocky Mountain, the Trapper men’s soccer team will play a scrimmage at Montana State University, Billings on Aug. 22. Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to Great Bend, Kan., the weekend of Aug. 25-26 to begin the regular season with games against Barton Community College and Northwest Tech.
The Trappers’ first home soccer games will be Sept. 7 when North Idaho comes to town.
Inside Cabre Gymnasium, head coach Shaun Pohlman begins his second season at the helm of Trapper volleyball. Nine freshmen join the roster hoping to help position the Trappers for a postseason run on their home court. The Trappers serve as the host school for the Region IX North tournament this year, bringing the culminating postseason tournament to town.
The Region IX North field will shrink slightly this season. Dawson Community College dropped to Division II for the 2012 season, leaving the northern half of the region with seven schools, one of whom will earn a spot in the national championship tournament by winning the regional event at season’s end.
The Trapper spikers open the year with a home scrimmage on Aug. 18 against Sheridan College. A starting time for that preseason competition has not been set yet. The Trappers’ first games of the 2012 volleyball season will come Aug. 24-25 when the team travels to the College of Southern Idaho tournament. The first home game for Trapper volleyball is Aug. 28 against the Rocky Mountain College JV team.