Your future, our focus
NWC Seeks First Road Win Of Season On 6-Game Trip
The Northwest College women’s soccer team put an end to its three-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over Western Nebraska on Saturday.
The win pulled the Trappers’ (3-4 overall) Region IX record to an even 3-3, which tied them with Trinidad State for third in conference.
NWC head coach Rob Hill said the weekend split firmly puts the women’s team in the conference race.
“I think the girls realize the position they’re in now, they do have their fate in their hands,” Hill said. “Mental toughness is going to be a key aspect. But I think the girls are hungry and they realize the position they’ve put themselves in.”
Goals by Northwest’s Jillian Vigil and Sami Heimer snapped both the Trappers’ losing and scoreless streaks that dated back to Sept. 4.
All four of the Trappers’ losses have come via shutout, and the women have tallied two goals in each of their three wins, giving them a negative 4 goal differential in conference matches.
“In the games that we’ve played with bigger scores, they’ve been really good teams,” Hill said.
Western Nebraska (2-2, 2-2 Region IX) took a quick 1-0 lead with a goal by Kennedy Lawes (assist by Eden Washington) in the fourth minute, but unlike the previous three contests, the early strike wasn’t a harbinger of more to come.
“We didn’t get our heads down and we carried on playing, and to go 1-1 at half was a good feeling,” Hill said.
The Trappers answered with Heimer’s equalizer in the 33rd minute on a goal sparked by defense.
“We counted perfectly,” Hill said. “Rebecca played a good ball up to Lindsay and Lindsay played a perfect cross into the box. In terms of textbook counters, that was it.”
Vigil scored the unassisted game winner 10 minutes into the second half and the Trappers defense took over the match from there.
“For the last 20 minutes, it was just survival mode, and they defended resolutely,” Hill said.
The defense clamped down to secure the win at Trapper Field, the only place NWC has won this season.
That trend will have to change if the Trappers are to challenge in Region IX. The Trappers play their next six matches away from Powell. Four of those six games come against conference opponents. NWC played Sheridan Wednesday (after press time) and head to Rock Springs to play Western Wyoming at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“Western will be hungry,” Hill said. “That’s when teams are the most dangerous. It’s going to be tough, but I think the girls are up for it.”
Western Nebraska outshot Northwest 10-6, but the freshmen goalkeeping duo of Alex Gonzales and Raven Johnson refused to let the game slip away.
Gonzales made four first-half saves and allowed the Cougars’ only goal. Johnson saved all five shots she faced in the second half.
Irwin led the Trappers with four shots on goal.
Laramie County (6-3-2, 4-1 Region IX) handed Northwest its third shutout loss in a row, 4-0, on Friday.
As with the Sept. 11 loss to Otero, the Trappers gave up goals in bunches to the Golden Eagles.
LCCC scored in the 32nd, 39th and 44th minutes to take a 3-0 lead by the half, then added a fourth goal in the 84th.
“We held out for 32 minutes (against LCCC) and the flood gates opened for three goals in the last 13 minutes,” Hill said.
Hill said two of the first-half goals were preventable, though the first was “spectacular” and was virtually unstoppable.
“We let in two of the three goals on silly errors on our part,” Hill said. “I felt that LCCC deserved the win, but I’m not sure that 4-nil… was probably not what we expected.”
Gonzales and Johnson again split the keeper duties, with Johnson getting the nod in the first half.
“Both have done well and are not to blame (for losses),” Hill said.
Johnson gave up three goals on five shots and Gonzales allowed one of the five shots she faced to get past her.
The Trappers already beat the next two opponents on their schedule, and have a chance to finish this week with a winning record.
Northwest won its home match against Sheridan 2-1 on Sept. 2. The Trappers beat the Mustangs 2-0 in Powell on Sept. 4.
Results from those games will be in next week’s Tribune, and scores can be found at www. njcaa.org.