NWC MEN'S HOME WIN STREAK SNAPPED

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

The Northwest College men's soccer team split a pair of Region IX contests at home after a long roadtrip, defeating Gillette College 2-0 before a difficult 6-1 loss to Casper College snapped a regular season home conference unbeaten streak dating back to October 2022. 

NORTHWEST 2, GILLETTE COLLEGE 0
Kicking off the action Friday the Trappers (6-3 overall, 2-2 Region IX) welcomed in the Pronghorns (0-4-4 overall, 0-4 Region IX).
Northwest got off to a strong start, as Jake Coltart fired home a shot after a Josh Hatton run and cross found Coltart who put it home to make it 1-0 just three minutes into the contest.
The Trappers didn't slow down, continuing to put pressure on the Pronghorn defense and getting a second before the midway point of the half.
Hatton again made a strong run up the left wing, crossing it in and finding the head of a diving Sora Taenaka to put it home and make it 2-0.
"That first 20-25 minutes we started off extremely fast with some really, really good soccer," coach Rob Hill said. "It was great to get an early goal and then a second. But I thought we played really well in the first 25-30 minutes, and then we made some subs and the level dropped off a bit."
Northwest was unable to find a third goal in the first half, but couldn't sustain that same level of play in the second half as Hill felt the Pronghorns adjusted well to the Trappers.
"I thought Gillette turned it around. I thought they adjusted well to what we were trying to do," Hill said. "We didn't seem to have that level of hunger and desire that I felt that we should have had … We got a clean sheet, but I wasn't convinced. It wasn't a 90 minute game."

CASPER COLLEGE 6, NORTHWEST 1
On Saturday the Trappers played against one of the other top teams in the conference in the Thunderbirds (6-0-2 overall, 4-0 Region IX).
Casper got on the board first 16 minutes in, when a long throw-in bounced out of the box and was hit off the volley into the side netting to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead.
"The first goal was an absolute 'worldie'. He tries that again 20 times, and it won't go in. Such is life," Hill said.Northwest held off the Thunderbirds nearly the remainder of the first half, but a header at the near post snuck in with 1:15 left and made it 2-0 going into the break.
Corners plagued the Trappers, as the Thunderbirds scored two more inside the first 20 minutes of the second half.Casper added another off a good turn in the box, before a long missed ball by a charging Trapper keeper went in and made it 6-0 Casper with 16 minutes left.
"Casper was a whole other ballgame," Hill said. "Very hard working team, very industrious … I don't think that we played particularly well. I don't think that we had the energy that we've had. I don't think we had the same conviction, particularly defending in the box. I thought we were just poor … To get walloped like that was disappointing because that's our home record."
Shay Lonergan got a consolation goal for the Trappers with seven minutes left and made the final score 6-1.
The conference loss was the first for the Trappers at home in the regular season since Central Wyoming on Oct. 14, 2022, and also knocked the Trappers out of the national rankings after a three-week run as they were replaced by the Thunderbirds who debuted at No. 16.
"I think getting ranked was probably not helpful to us, because it energizes the opponent, and I think it led to us being a bit complacent," Hill said. "It was nice to be recognized, but it wasn't our friend."

ROAD SWING
Northwest heads on the road to start a three game swing on Saturday, starting with Central Wyoming College (3-5-1 overall, 2-2 Region IX) at 3:30 p.m.
Hill is hopeful that the Trappers can get back to where they were at the start of the season.
"I'm hoping that this week of training we can correct some of those things, particularly set piece defending and go down to Central and compete," Hill said. "They'll have organized themselves, they'll have gotten better during the season, and they're at home. So this is going to be a very, very tough game for us. If we defend like we did against Casper we're in big trouble."