Your future, our focus
Northwest College soccer opened its regular season Friday, Sept. 2, with mixed results as the Lady Trappers edged Western Wyoming by a 2-1 score while the men’s team saw a late game flurry lead to a 2-1 loss.
In the women’s early match, Lady Mustang Madisyn Cantrell gave her team the edge with a first-half goal.
Northwest freshman Meghan Attenborough from Oxford, England, then evened things up 10 minutes into the second half.
“It was a free kick from about 20 yards out,” Attenborough said. “After that we just kept attacking.”
Even though they kept on the attack, it wasn’t until there were just over 16 minutes left in the match that the Trappers got the clincher to go through. Emily Ginley, a sophomore from Hudderfield, England, sent a pass from the left toward the front of the goal.
Holly Burley, a freshman midfielder from Norwich, England, gathered the pass and booted it into the back of the net.
From there, the defense held — with some nice saves from freshman goalkeeper Katie Behrens of Twin Falls, Idaho — to provide for the final margin and get the ladies season started in good fashion.
“Our preseason was very tough and it really prepared us to go against teams we know we can compete against,” Attenborough said.
The men’s match saw a defensive battle for the vast majority of the 90 minutes, with a pair of goose eggs on the scoreboard all the way through more than 80 minutes.
But the final eight minutes were a comparative gala of goals as three shots found their way into the nets.
In the 82nd minute, Jay Younger, a freshman forward from Newcastle, UK fired a shot in to give the Trappers the lead.
Just three minutes later, however, Tanner Trumble turned a Ty Nielsen assist into a score and make it a 1-1 score.
Then, with just over two minutes remaining, the Mustangs got the tie-breaker from Nielsen.
“We thought it should have been a goal kick, but they got a corner kick out if it,” Trapper transfer-sophomore Brandon McArdle of Drogheda, Ireland, said. “And they were able to get the score on the corner.”
This weekend will see two matches for Northwest, with the women hosting Otero Junior College on Friday at 2 p.m. and both teams getting a visit from Trinidad State Junior College from Colorado at noon and 2 p.m. Saturday.