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‘Guilty’ Wins Pull Trappers Into Third
A pair of road wins — the Northwest College women’s soccer team’s first of the season — pulled the Trappers into third place in Region IX, and still left coach Rob Hill shaking his head.
Northwest won at Sheridan Friday and Western Wyoming Saturday despite being outplayed in both matches.
“We got the wins not playing particularly well,” Hill said. “I honestly felt we rolled our luck a bit.”
The wins improved the Trappers’ potential playoff position, but Hill said their play wouldn’t sustain a deep run in the postseason.
“It’s great that we got two wins, but it’s just two performances that are just very, very substandard,” Hill said. “In these latter stages, no one’s going to hand you those wins. You can only ride that luck so far until it turns around and bites you.”
The Trappers (5-4 overall, 5-3 Region IX) pushed their luck into double overtime Saturday in Rock Springs.
Lindsay Irwin scored in the 109th minute to secure a 3-2 win in a game that left Hill more sympathetic than celebratory.
“It was one of those wins when you actually feel guilty,” Hill said.
Irwin scored after she reentered the game following the loss of a 2-0 second-half lead.
“Irwin, who’s been playing with a quad strain but still works really hard, pressed the ball, did it single-handedly and scored,” Hill said.
Taylor Meeks scored a pair of rapid-fire goals in the match’s 8th and 9th minutes to put the Trappers up 2-0. Irwin assisted on the first goal, and after the second she came out to rest her strained quad. Hill planned on resting her for the remainder of the match, but needed her again in the latter stages.
Aside from the two goals, Hill said the Trappers really didn’t pose an offensive threat in the first half, and the two-goal cushion proved to be too little.
Western scored twice in the second half, in the 58th and 65th minutes, to tie the game.
“They got two goals back, and they were two good goals,” Hill said. “One was a free kick, the other was a corner kick and their center back came up and headed the ball. Both very good goals.”
Keeper Alex Gonzales made a pair of saves in the first half, while Raven Johnson didn’t record a save in the second half and overtime.
Hill mentioned Irwin, Meeks and Rachel Orchard as the players who always play hard regardless of score or situation.
“Sure enough (Irwin’s) the one who got the winner ... just because she works so hard,” Hill said.
The coach said it’s his job to ensure the rest of the team is prepared to play for a win for 90 minutes, or more.
“I’ve got to take full responsibility for that,” Hill said. “It’s my team and I got to get them better prepared for the games.
“Pushing them to work harder, trying to get that feeling back of feeling uncomfortable. There’s too many people feeling comfortable and on cruise control.”
Somehow, the Trappers managed torches to a 2-0 shutout in Sheridan on Friday.
The roles were reversed early in the first half when Irwin scored on a Meeks assist, and sophomore Barbara Fidelis added an insurance goal in the 63rd minute.
Despite the clean sheet, spirits weren’t high following the Trappers first road win of the season.
“We came off the field like we lost the game,” Hill said. “It concerned me going into the Western game, if we carried on that way. And surely enough, we did. I don’t know how we came out winning both those games.”
No matter how the Trappers won, they did, and are now third place in Region IX North, tied with Trinidad (3-3, 5-4) and Western Nebraska (3-3, 3-3).
Road games against both of those teams loom next weekend, following this weekend’s trip to Utah for non-region matches against Utah State University Eastern at 1 p.m. Friday and Salt Lake City College at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
“We’re going to have four games on the road that are going to be incredibly tough for us,” Hill said. “We’ve got to get at least one result on the road against one of those teams (Trinidad, Western Nebraska).”