Your future, our focus
Men Win High-Scoring Match
Northwest College soccer took to the road last weekend with trips to Laramie and Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for matches against some tough competition.
Things started off Friday with matches against Laramie County Community College, a notoriously difficult opponent for the Trappers in recent years.
“They are a very tough team and we have never beaten them down there,” head coach Rob Hill said.
Unfortunately, that streak wasn’t broken on Friday as the Lady Trappers dropped a 2-0 match to the Golden Eagles and the Northwest men suffered a 4-1 loss.
“It played out almost exactly as it did there last season,” Hill said. “The girls conceded two goals in the first six minutes. They came out fast and right away we were chasing a very good team. Probably the best team we’ve seen.”
After giving up the two “sloppy goals,” Hill said his team “had some good moments and changed up our formation and that seemed to help.”
From there it was across the Nebraska border to face the Western Nebraska Cougars. As with Laramie, Northwest had struggled to pick up wins in Scottsbluff over the years.
However, the Lady Trappers turned things around from the previous day and battled to a two-overtime, 1-1 tie on Saturday.
“In that game, the girls got a goal at the 45th minute even though we’d been peppering the goal all half,” Hill said. “Meghan (Attenborough) got a free kick from about 20 yards out.”
The second half brought a shift in sides on the field, putting the Trappers against the wind. While they were still taking the majority of the shots on goal, those shots became more difficult.
“They tied it on a goal in the second half on a play that we thought they impeded our goalkeeper,” Hill said. “We went through the overtimes and had our chances. I think by the end we had 24 or 25 shots on goal, but couldn’t get that next one in.”
The men’s match was also a very pitched battle, but unlike the women’s game, it was a cavalcade of scoring as the Northwest men got past the Cougars by a 6-5 margin.
Teigan Rosenquest started the Trapper scoring with a goal in the first couple minutes and Western Nebraska tied things up at six minutes, Hill said.
The Trappers got two scores from Jay Younger and one from Danny Mort to go up 4-1, but the Cougars got a couple of counter attacks and suddenly the once comfortable lead was a scant 4-3 at the half.
“We talked at haftime that the next goal was a big one,” Hill said. “Either they tie it 4-4 and momentum shifts, or we go up 5-3 and make it easier on ourselves.”
That next goal went to Nebraska, knotting things up, with Rosenquest then getting Northwest back up with a goal with about six minutes to play.
Another Cougar score agained evened things at 5-5, where it stayed into the final seconds.
“Liam (Randles) had a throwin and Teigan (Rosenquest) got it on the back post and put it in with about five seconds left to get us the win,” Hill said. “We always seem to have games like that when we come here, with a lot of goals being scored. It’s great for the crowd, but not for coaches.”
The teams were on the road at Sheridan on Wednesday, with their travels continuing to Utah State Eastern on Friday.