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NWC Scores 10 Goals In Road Rout
After surviving the mother of all scares against Western Wyoming, the Northwest College Trappers hit the road and cruised to a 10-0 victory at Northeastern to improve to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in Region IX soccer play.
Just days earlier, the Trappers had appeared to be cruising to victory at home against Western Wyoming on Wednesday when the visiting Mustangs scored three times in a three-minute span late in the second half. Just like that, a seemingly comfortable 4-0 Trapper lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game was transformed into a 4-3 nailbiter with slightly more than six minutes remaining.
The Western Wyoming flurry sent some of the Trappers’ starters, many of whom had already changed out of their uniform tops and shoes on the sideline, dashing madly for their sports bags to suit back up.
“We got a little too comfortable and things changed in a matter of minutes,” said Trapper soccer coach Rob Hill, whose team began receiving votes again in the NJCAA men’s soccer poll last week. “Things changed in a matter of minutes. The guys that came on late didn’t finish the game and our level of intensity dropped.”
After several unexpected nervous moments, the Trappers were able to score an insurance goal late for a 5-3 win.
“It never should have been a 5-3 win, but it was a lesson for us to not keep the door open in the future,” said Hill. “I know some of the guys after we let them back in late came off the field feeling like we’d just lost rather than won the game.”
There were no such problems over the weekend as Northwest blasted Northeastern to a 10-0 final score. The Trappers grabbed a 3-0 lead at intermission and then poured it on over the final 45 minutes for the win.
“Colton Strong got the scoring started for us in probably the 15th minute or so with kind of an ugly goal,” said Hill. “We were able to get a couple more that weren’t the prettiest goals and were up three at the half. Despite that, I didn’t think we were playing at the speed we wanted. Things seemed slow and we looked a little lethargic.”
To compensate, the Trappers’ coach shifted players around for the second half. One of those changes, moving right-side defender Nate Hunt forward to midfield, paid huge dividends. Hunt accounted for a second-halt hat trick as he helped key the NWC rout.
“Nate really gave us a spark,” said Hill. “We decided to try him up there just because he’s got such good pacing and he’s an aggressive player. We had a couple other guys who really stepped it up after the half and then NJC kind of quit. We were able to get a number of shots on goal and managed to finish.”
More important for the Trappers’ coach, after several attempts that were denied in the waning minutes of games, his team was finally able to post a shutout in the victory.
“It was nice to get a clean sheet,” said Hill. “I was really getting tired of conceding silly goals, especially with some tough away games coming up.”
The Trappers head to Trinidad State and Otero this weekend. The away game at Otero looms particularly large for Hill and his team.
“We’ve never won down there,” said Hill. “It’s a hostile crowd with the guys sitting right behind your bench. They’ve got a very, very big pitch and they take advantage of that with what they do. It will be a very tough game.”