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Returnees Will Provide A Good Nucleus For Northwest Next Fall
The NWC soccer teams competed in the Region IX Tournament quarter finals over the weekend to end their seasons.
The men’s team traveled to Otero Junior College — earning a 2-2 tie — while the women traveled to Trinidad State Junior College and lost 2-1. Both colleges are located in Colorado.
For the men’s contest against Otero, “our first 25 minutes, I thought we were superb,” said Rob Hill, NWC men’s and women’s soccer coach. “Everything we’d done in practice was executed and we were really doing a good job of pressing. We were forcing the ball to be turned over and we were hitting them on the counter quite well. Our movement was good. We got that reward on the 14th minute.”
At minute 14, Lucas Ferrer scored NWC’s first goal of the game, assisted by Liam Randles.
Otero returned with a goal of their own about 11 minutes later to tie things up.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of clearing the ball and that’s where our letdown was,” said Hill. “As far as minimizing their opportunities for open play, I was pleased with that — we did a good job. Our defensive shooting was good.”
Otero did not get a goal in open play.
NWC took the lead again in the second half at about the 46th minute, on a Danny Moore goal assisted by Danny Merritt
In the 66th minute, Otero tied the game again at 2-2. Neither team scored again, resulting in a tie after double overtime.
“It’s been a very up and down season with the guys,” said Hill. “We got a lot of freshmen in there. Definitely a big learning curve for a lot of the guys, which I think they’ll improve on if they return next year.”
Meanwhile, the women’s team lost to Trinidad, 1-2. “It’s a difficult place to go, Trinidad is a 12-13 hour one-way trip,” Hill said.
Trinidad scored the first goal at about the 12th minute, from a penalty decision against NWC.
“We were really slow to get going in that game I think,” said Hill. “I think after the goal, we certainly picked it up and started playing better. Last 20 minutes of the first half we were really dominating the game and really started pushing forward. I felt we had two to three really good opportunities that (we) should have finished.”
At about the 42nd minute, Megan Attenborough scored an unassisted goal for NWC.
“Really terrific shot from about 20 yards — caught everyone by surprise,” Hill said.
The third and final goal of the game gave Trinidad the win, coming at about the 68th minute.
“At that point, we didn’t really stop playing, we didn’t quit we carried on,” said Hill. “And I felt we had again two to three opportunities we just didn’t take.”
NWC had six shots (three on goal) in the first half with seven shots (three on goal) in the second half; Trinidad took six shots in the first half and five in the second.
The men’s team ended the season with a 4-7-2 record and the women’s team ended with a record of 4-9-1.
“Should have a good returning set of players that we’ll be able to build on,” said Hill. “And just looking at the list of sophomores here, we’ll have a lot of good success in transferring these guys to some good schools as well. Looking at the women, same thing.”
Hill has already started the recruiting process for next fall and preparing for games this spring.
NWC will play three or four games in the spring, with one most likely in Salt Lake City.
“Got a good group of players and a good group of students and we’ll have a good spring season,” said Hill. “Hopefully we’ll come back next year stronger and see where it leads us.”