STARTING STRONG: TRAPPER MEN SPLIT RAKED ROAD CONTESTS

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

The Northwest College men's soccer team continues to wade through tough competition, as the Trappers took on two ranked opponents on the road in Utah on Thursday and Saturday. A late goal from No. 17-ranked Snow College prevented the Trappers from coming home unbeaten in a 2-1 loss before Northwest took down No. 9 ranked Salt Lake Community College 1-0.       

SNOW COLLEGE 2, NORTHWEST 1
Kicking off the regular season in Ephraim, the Trappers (1-1) sought an early upset over the Badgers (2-0) who made the NJCAA National Tournament last season.

The hosts started off on the front foot, controlling the ball and putting the Trappers under pressure.

Despite the early pressure, coach Rob Hill felt no immediate threats from the Badgers as a majority of the shots  at the Trapper net came from distance.

"The first 25 minutes I thought they caused us problems … They were trapping us and countering us," Hill said. "They didn't create a ton of opportunities. They were shooting a lot from distance. The stats looked like they had a lot of shots, but they didn't really bother us."

At that 25 minute mark, Thomas Barone substituted into the Trapper midfield, which Hill said allowed the Trappers to find their footing and gain better balance in midfield.

"We made an adjustment, we put Tom into midfield to give us more defensive balance, and that changed the game," Hill said. "It allowed our eight and 10 to get higher up the pitch, to break lines. After that we dominated the game."

The Trappers created more opportunities, but neither team found the back of the net in the first half and went into the break tied 0-0.

Each team had chances in the second half, but it was Snow which struck first, after a foul was committed by the Trappers on the edge of the box and put home a free kick to make it 1-0 in the 70th minute.

"We went 1-0 down off a silly free kick. A mistake on the edge of the box, we didn't commit very well," Hill said. "I'll give the kid credit, but again, we put ourselves in that situation."

Northwest quickly battled back, as Shay Lonergan earned a penalty and then put it in the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 with 16 minutes left.

Hill felt the Trappers had several opportunities to take the lead from inside the box, but were unable to find the goal as the game wore into the late stages.

"I felt we had glorious chances from 7 yards out and we should have buried them," Hill said.

The final chance for Northwest came on a corner kick with just 2:30 minutes left, as Hill decided to push the Trappers up and go for the win rather than sit back and play for the draw.

Snow defended the corner and hit the Trappers on a counterattack, with the Trappers unable to foul with risk of second yellow cards or a straight red card should they stop the attack.

The Badgers scored and sealed a 2-1 win with just two minutes left.

"Unfortunately, we'd had several yellow cards and we couldn't commit a foul otherwise it's a red card," Hill said. "In hindsight, should we have done something different? I wanted to go for the win. Could we have just accepted the draw? I think when you're competitors, you don't do that. And unfortunately, maybe on another day, we set up differently with some different people on the halfway line and the edge of the box maybe with some speed. Or somebody who hadn't got a yellow card. So that was on me to arrange that better and look at that differently. But I thought the boys performed very well. They gave everything."      

NORTHWEST 1, SALT LAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE 0
After the loss Thursday the Trappers had Friday to regroup and focus on the Bruins (0-1-1).

Following the same trend as Thursday the Trappers were unable to find their footing early and started off on the back foot.

"When you play these good teams, you have to soak up pressure," Hill said. "They're going to come at you, they're going to cause pressure. We soaked up a lot of pressure, but they didn't really bother us."

After the halftime whistle the Trappers started to create more opportunities, with one finding the back of the net off a corner. Josh Hatton headed it to the back post and Ethan Day fired it home to make it 1-0 in the 55th minute.

Hill felt the Trappers had several more opportunities to score, but held on for the 1-0 win.

"It was great for the guys, because they worked so hard and soaked up a lot of pressure, and they [the Bruins] didn't really have any clear chances," Hill said. "I was very happy with them."      

TOUGH SCHEDULE CONTINUES
After the win the Trappers returned home to practice this week, as Hill feels the win will keep the Trappers motivated while keeping the standards high heading into another difficult week.

"These guys are pretty humble. Honestly, we didn't get too excited about it (the win). I think I expect a lot of these guys, and they expect a lot of themselves," Hill said. "They set pretty high standards for themselves. I think on any day, we can play with anybody. It's just a matter of not letting it get to our heads, stay hungry, stay passionate and stay grounded."

He said the ranked win likely draws some more attention to the Trappers.

"I think now people will probably want to raise their game against us," Hill said. "So I'm OK with that, because I think if you're going to win the region or compete for the region, you've got to do it against some tough teams."

The Trappers next head to the Northwest for a pair of contests, starting in Kennewick, Washington, against Pacific Northwest Christian College (0-0) at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

Northwest then continues to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, taking on another preseason top 20 team in North Idaho College (2-0) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Those will serve as the final tuneups before the Trappers return home next Saturday, Sept. 6, to take on Central Wyoming College in a nonconference matchup.