Wrapping up the regular season on the road the NJCAA No. 14-ranked Northwest College men’s soccer team ended with a scoreless draw on Saturday night, as the Trappers tied Central Wyoming College 0-0 in Riverton to extend their unbeaten run to nine games.

NORTHWEST 0, CENTRAL WYOMING 0

Ending the regular season the Trappers (8-2-2 overall, 7-1-1 Region IX) took on the Rustlers (8-4-4 overall, 4-2-3 Region IX) in a nonconference matchup.

Both teams found opportunities to attack over the first 20 minutes, with the Trappers causing the most problems and forcing saves out of the Rustler keeper.

“I thought we played some really good soccer,” coach Rob Hill said. “At times it was exceptional, I thought we dominated that game from start to finish.”

Corners were the best opportunities for the hosts, and the Trappers saved a free kick just before the halftime whistle.

Northwest took the lead five minutes into the second half on a free kick headed into the back of the net, but an offside call was determined after further discussion by the officials, negating the goal and keeping it scoreless.

Both teams had chances the rest of the match, but neither team found a winner as the game ended in a 0-0 draw.

“The chances we created were unreal, just one of those nights the dominance wasn’t reflected in the scoreline. I thought the guys were very good in possession and out of possession,” Hill said. “We learned lessons dealing with the counterattack. I was very impressed. I wanted to see where we were at, I feel like that showed that they’re ready for postseason play … Central made it difficult. Most of the time they had 11 behind the ball.”

POSTSEASON BEGINS

The Trappers now head into the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Region IX Tournament, awaiting the winner of the matchup between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

That will see Otero College (4-5-6 overall, 4-3-2 Region IX) make the trip to Sterling to take on Northeastern Junior College (7-2-4 overall, 5-1-3 Region IX) at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

It will be a rematch from the final weekend of the regular season as Otero defeated Northeastern at home 4-1.

The winner of that game comes to Powell on Halloween, as the Trappers will host the contest at Powell High School next Saturday.

“We’re just trying to stay sharp right now. We’re getting on the turf and getting used to it,” Hill said.

Northwest defeated Otero at home 4-1 in early September to begin the team’s current nine game unbeaten run, and also defeated Northeastern 4-1 on the road on Oct. 9.

“We’ll be ready for either one. Next week is where we’ll really focus on the game plan and what we want to implement. We’ve really done our homework on these teams and we’ll keep fine tuning,” Hill said. “We’ll keep working on finishing. When it comes to next week, we’ll have five days of solid prep … It’s a whole different season now, it’s one and done.”

REGION IX TOURNAMENT

QUARTERFINALS

Saturday

Game 1: 1 p.m. — No. 5 Otero at No. 4 Northeastern JC

Game 2: 1 p.m. — No. 6 Central Wyoming at No. 3 Western Nebraska CC

SEMIFINALS

Saturday, Oct. 31

Semifinal 1: TBD — Winner Game 1 at No. 1 Northwest

Semifinal 2: TBD — Winner Game 2 at No. 2 Casper College

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Saturday, Nov. 7

(Hosted by higher seed)

Championship: TBD — Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2