NWC WOMEN SPLIT SCRIMMAGES
The women’s soccer team split its preseason scrimmages against four-year institutions, defeating the University of Providence 7-1 on Friday before falling to Rocky Mountain College 3-0 on Sunday.
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
The women's soccer team split its preseason scrimmages against four-year institutions, defeating the University of Providence 7-1 on Friday before falling to Rocky Mountain College 3-0 on Sunday.
NORTHWEST 7, PROVIDENCE 1
The Trappers got off to a quick start, as Brooke Travers and Amelia Grace Franklin both scored inside the first 17 minutes.
Abby Derbyshire scored her first goal with 16 minutes remaining, starting a quick flurry of Trapper goals.
Honey Murphy scored just 30 seconds later, while Derbyshire added a second goal two minutes later as the Trappers led 5-0 at halftime.
Orla Kingsley scored eight minutes into the second half, before Providence got its lone goal of the game with 18 minutes left.
Elli Lewis capped off the scoring for the Trappers with 3:30 minutes left to earn the 7-1 win.
"No disrespect to Providence, but it was a little slower pace, little less pressure, more time on the ball. I thought it was unrealistic for us because I knew what we were going to face against Rocky," coach Rob Hill said.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 3, NORTHWEST 0
Following the win Friday the Trappers turned their attention to the Battlin' Bears, which brought a much more difficult opponent to Northwest.
The visitors got on the board first, scoring 16 minutes into the game as the speed of Rocky started causing problems for the Trappers.
"The Rocky one was the game that really helps us understand the pace of play, the physicality. We were bullied, No. 11 ran through us," Hill said. "There were so many times that we were just diving in and making really silly errors, elementary errors."
The Battlin' Bears added a second goal with just under a minute left as the Trappers went into halftime searching for a spark in the second half.
Northwest came out stronger, before a red card was given to a Trapper 17 minutes in.
Rocky allowed the Trappers to continue at full strength, as Northwest found chances, but was unable to find the back of the net.
The visitors added one more goal with four minutes left in the game to finish 3-0.
"Rocky gave us what we needed, and that was a bit of a wake up call for a lot of players. I thought our intensity was not great, our competitiveness was not great, our physicality was not great. There were a lot of problems there," Hill said. "We were trying to play this slow, lethargic game and we got beat. I thought in the second half we played better. We stepped up after we talked about what we needed to do … They're (Rocky) tough competitors. They'll do well in their conference."
ROAD TRIP
The Northwest women now set out on the road for a trip that lasts nearly a month. They will not play in Powell again until Sept. 19.
That road trip begins in Utah, with the Trappers heading to Ephraim for a pair of neutral site games at Snow College today (Thursday) and Friday.
Northwest takes on Yavapai College out of Prescott, Arizona, at 2 p.m. Thursday before taking on Region IX opponent Western Nebraska Community College at 11 a.m. Friday.
"Yavapai they'll be a very strong, newer program, but that doesn't make a difference in junior college," Hill said. "Western Nebraska, they always give us a tough game. You never know what you're gonna get with them, but I expect them to be organized … Looking forward to the weekend and kind of correcting and cleaning up the things we struggled with against Rocky."